Wizards' latest ploy to try to sell more Standard cards
General forum
Posted on March 25, 2018, 7:41 a.m. by Argy
New format called Brawl.
Sounds like Tiny Leaders Lite.
Suddenly the rash of Legendary cards in Dominaria makes sense.
I have said this a couple times, but there are plenty of reasons for Brawl to exist beyond a simple ploy to make money.
Magic: Arena is coming out soon. This game will be limited to the most recent sets (at least at first). I am pretty sure Brawl was designed to allow for an EDH format in Arena. Fewer cards and lower starting life leads to quicker games, perfect for online interactions where players might suddenly get called away from their computers.
The worst thing for new/young players (demographics that tend to buy by the pack due to financial constraints) is opening up a pack and seeing how many junk cards they have received. Brawl makes more cards relevant, and gives an outlet for all the unusable cards Wizards prints.
This format might make Standard players more interested in EDH, or EDH players interested in standard.
This provides a cost effective alternative to the quite costly EDH.
All of the above helps with player retention. Magic is a complex, intricate card game, in a world of Hearthstone and tablets. I know I have had difficulty introducing a new generation to Magic in this environment, I am sure Wizards is feeling the pressure as well.
March 25, 2018 11:37 a.m.
I think this format is mostly for people who are already in possession of lots of random standard cards but don't have any/enough decks to play them in. I don't think its going to noticeably drive the sales of standard cards. And that's fine, but it seems like only a small percentage of the magic playing population will be inclined to play it to me. It's also not going to get much real life support without having constant events at large tournaments or at least becoming a popular magic online format. Currently I think it is just an idea to most of the public basically, nobody's playing it yet.
I don't know, I guess it seems like it would be fun. I just don't have many standard cards and I dont want to buy them (especially because standard cards are over priced) just for a casual deck that will rotate. I play magic too infrequently to invest in rotating decks.
March 25, 2018 12:01 p.m. Edited.
Yeah your right about it being a good way to use jank and even just 1 of decent rares or even good ones
March 25, 2018 12:04 p.m.
Rzepkanut the rotating aspect is what makes me skeptical about it.
Tiny Leaders didn't even rotate, and that didn't really take off.
Frontier has been difficult to establish.
March 26, 2018 7:32 a.m.
I think Brawl would be fine if the limitations were just to the standard aspect. I just watched the Command Zone recently and a suggestion that was brought up was to make the format eyeball, but limit the cards you could use to just cards that would've been standard legal for your specific commander.
This IMHO solves the problem of rotation at least and encourages new players to stick around instead of getting rid of nearly every card and adding 50 more on top of that to convert your deck to commander. It also lets ppl play with Kaladesh and Aether Revolt longer. I mean if you make a Brawl deck with any card from those two sets right now you might as well just stop, they'll be rotating out in the fall so you get what 5 months maybe?
April 7, 2018 4:35 a.m.
Braxlin I like the idea I have been promoting much better, which is Frontier Brawl.
Same build rules as Brawl, but you can use any cards from M15 onwards.
Combos like Felidar Guardian + Saheeli Rai won't be OP as it's singleton.
April 7, 2018 6:40 a.m. Edited.
Respectfully, that is an awful idea. Legality lists need to be simple, particularly for a format designed for newer players, which I think we all agree Brawl was, at least in part.
Think of how difficult a Gatherer search would be. Let us say Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is our commander:
Colour: Not Red; Not Blue; Not White
Block: Or Battle for Zendikar; Or Shadows over Innistrad; Or Kaladesh; Or Amonkhet; Or Ixalan; Or Dominaria.
As someone who does not play standard, it took me a hot minute to look up what sets were legal at the time Amonkhet was released.
All of this can be frustrating to an experienced player; I cannot imagine how unecessaeially annoying a new player might find it.
Fyr says... #2
Brawl almost sounds fun except that it's only standard. Now one positive I can see is wizards printing more playable legendarys in new sets which is great for commander
March 25, 2018 10:49 a.m.