Great video Prof! As always, thankyou. I disagree that we want social interaction on Arena if it involves letting players actually type or talk to each other though. It'll be nothing but instant toxicity that is only outpaced by games like League of Legends.
@@altosforteaquax5083 I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you saying it is an entitled attitude to assume a publisher that a store does the favor of supporting shouldn't stab the store in the back by undercutting them?
@@altosforteaquax5083 I might point out that while the syntax of "imagine" is not direct, there is very definitely meaning behind the words. Especially given the 14/0 reply/comment like ratio, it is clearly a piece of communication that deserves more than mere contempt Also if youre going to think purely in terms of profit, you're vastly undervaluing PR. Wizards used to support these stores, they developed a community BECAUSE of these stores, just because they have no legal obligation to support them doesnt mean it isn't stabbing people in the back to suddenly pull the rug out from under a symbiotic relationship thats been going on for years. Wizards used them to propel itself, and is now dropping them by the wayside. People feel betrayed by that, and if you dont care about humans themselves, care about how people feeling betrayed hurts profit potential. If companies introduce change in such a jarring way that the customers feel bad buying product, thats the companies fault, no matter how economically sensible it is to the investor board
You are still the hero we need professor. Thank you for being a voice for the community. You sit at the table like the rest of us, understand the love of the game, and enjoy the fun of the gathering. Thank you for being the voice we need. You are still one of us. Here to help the algorithm.
I would love to see Magic do what Pokemon already does, if you get a pack you get a code for a pack in the online game. Everytime I purchase a pack of Pokemon from my game shop I get a digital pack. This doesn't even get into the ability to trade but I never see that happen.
Also, on a similar topic, there was a Yu-Gi-Oh game for the game boy advanced that allowed you to input a cards code into the game and you’d be able to use that card in the game even if it was just against in game players.
I stopped playing Arena this year. After pretty much spending 100€ every set since its release. I participated in the beta and played from there on without interruption always hoping that it would some day turn into what I wanted from it and that is: simply a digital client to play Magic with my friends. Thats all i wanted it to be, a modern, user friendly client to drop in and play the Magic I know digitally with my friends. Always hoping that multiplayer would one day be a thing. If they would have given me that I wouldve gladly invested more of my money in it. But I think this year really showed me ... it will never be that. It probably was never intended to be that, its a testbed for ideas on how to extract even more money from an already exhausted consumer-base and to try out gimmicks just to quickly abandon almost all support for them when they dont work out IMMEDIATELY. Wizards is plain lazy when it comes to Arena, its just another tool for them to reach that cocky goal of doubling their revenue within 5 years, set out by Hasbro in 2019 (or was it 2018?) and I have to now face that and take my money and my time elsewhere.
I uninstalled arena 1 month ago, its predatory garbage. Wont be returning to Arena, I've played paper like 6 times this year the game just isnt what it was due to power creep and there is no going back.
I'm in the exact same boat. Played since beta, I've been shouting on Reddit for years now about how this game is driving itself into the ground. Prof said it best back then - Arena was amazing and the only thing they had to do was not shoot themselves in the foot. Naturally, WotC took this as a challenge, went in papa Hasbro's gun cabinet, got out the 12 gauge, and aimed squarely at all 10 toes, one at a time. I'm done. I quit after Vow. I spent every last coin I earned since playing daily from Midnight Hunt's release, and then using it all to draft as hard as I could. When all was said and done, I opened over 100 packs of Vow, and when the dust cleared I barely had more vault progress (not that I'm gonna open it until they improve the vault) and I was STILL missing rares and mythics - I'm not talking about having 4x of anything, I mean there were rares I had 0 of - and that is embarassing. There is no reason it should be this hard to have THE GAME PIECES needed to play the game. In paper, sure, ,you're obtaining a collectible but you get to keep them forever, or trade them to other people. Even in MTGO you can trade with people. But since there is no trading, no turning in what you don't need, there is ZERO reason you can't more easily obtain the cards. What's WotC worried about? People enjoying their game too much? I was not buying cosmetics on principle because they eat all my card resources. I promise you, if cards were twice, thrice as easy to obtain, I would blow so much fucking money on cosmetics. But when it doesn't feel good to buy a card sleeve at higher than a 90% off daily deal, that is an absolute feelbad. So I'm done. Fuck it. Arena had their chance, and blew off 10 toes in rapid, gory succession. Get bent, Hasbro.
As someone that just loves to draft, I enjoy arena enough for that. For those constructed players, I feel terrible for. I’ve spent just a total of $200 and some change since beta, have only 8ish constructed decks to get me thru my dailies, and only enough wildcards to build 3-4 more upper tier constructed decks. The squeeze is sinful and insulting for constructed players. Real sham(e).
@@coomlaoaskeen2397 I quit using the client game on this alone. I really hope a couple make it to paper (wickerwing effigy) so that I can actually play with them and have them in a collection that matters.
Eudomonia and Endgame closing down were real heavy hitters for me. I used to play Pathfinder Society when I was a young teenager at Endgame, and those few games I played were an absolute blast. I wouldn't be into magic today if my best friend didn't show me the trailer for Eldraine and take me to the prerelease for it at Eudomonia(which then became my local spot for drafts and singles until Covid). I actually tried to call Eudo to apply for a job there the final day they were open, and it breaks my heart to see WotC ignore these game stores.
Oh shit, this is my first time hearing about it. Eudo was such an awesome, welcoming space. The internet cafe section meant that it never felt empty (and gave me something to do there even if there was nobody around to play mtg)
Eudo was a nice store but I always struggled to find near by parking, Endgame was a beautiful store but was poorly managed by the owner in the end(failed cafe, lack of event support, higher than Target prices on packs)
I've worked for two of the four local game stores where we live. They have both closed, and one of them was here for almost two decades. It was the oldest one we had. I can describe them all in more detail but just know they each have their own unique charm.
The easiest Quality of Life change to MTGA I can think of that would greatly improve the whole experience for me is giving the option of sending a friend request to an opponent at the end of game screen. Often times, I want to tell them how much I enjoyed the match, go over the cool things that happened, ask them for their cool decklist, invite them to my discord, or just connect with a kindred soul (us jank players love talking about our jank). Of course, trolls and toxic people could try to abuse this but it would be much harder because one can only message friends and if someone was being toxic during the match, one can just not friend them and if they turn out to be toxic, unfriending them would completely eliminate their ability to contact you.
This is a great idea! For me the worst times are where I think I have good feedback for my opponent (i.e. I have seen them miss lethal, which happens often. It's no issue if it was subtle, but sometime it seems obvious that they're misunderstanding or forgetting something which will cost them a load of games and frustration) or worry that I might have accidentally been rude (the very worst is hitting 'oops' instead of 'gg' on a win, I did that two days ago and am still recovering). As you say though, sometimes it is just an unbelievable game that they played really well and you want to congratulate them or ask advice if they're in a deck/archetype that you like.
Honestly, even just saying, "You there?" and them replying, "Sorry, mom came in" or "Sorry, card I drew changes everything." Would lower the assumed toxicity of roping.
Great video. For me the worst thing is one you mentioned - product overload. There's too many new cards in terms of volume and too many new strong cards as well. In their stead, I'd like to see more reprints of existing cards with fancy new art, styles, borders, etc. And I'd like to see new, interesting designs that caution on the side of safety rather than making it too pushed.
I kind of want to do an analysis of the cost of mtgtop8 decks over time now to see this plotted out. I feel like modern burn used to cost < $200 six years ago, although I could be misremembering that.
I think most of these problems can be boiled down to Hasbro finally taking the monetization possibilities of MtG seriously. Now that it's a cultural fad and so popular in media Hasbro wants to milk it for everything it's worth, and doing things how they had been or better for players just isn't in the best interest of profit.
Greed is the keyword for this and last year in the overall game, video or not, industry. And it will probably continue since no matter the complaints, they are still making record profits
NFTs are on the way my friends....it's already being implemented in the video gaming industry as we speak. Have seen all of this unfold in that genre the past decade, came back to check in on MtG and possibly see what MtGO is all about and this is the same situation I have already watched unfold.....dark days indeed and the Beast is swallowing everything I can get ahold of it seems.
@@Sevatar_VIIIth Considering how hard companies and developers got trashed by the gaming community (and even backed off! That doesn't happen often), this may not be 100% certain. Then again, the TCG community and Video Game community don't overlap enough to where they're more or less the same.
an anecdote in support of point #2- Strixhaven advertising. the marketing around stirxhaven and it's 5 schools was very exciting. It felt like a new mode of personal investment in the color pie. I had friends with little experience with magic who were excited for this new flavor, and old magic players seemed interested in rejoining. But as it turned out, strixhaven was so small and so quickly forgotten. All that buildup for a single set, not even a block. It knocked the wind out of everyone around me who joined or rejoined for strixhaven, to so quickly have wotc move on to its next angle
Did you play around the time of OG Theros? The Prerelease was filled with this strangely excitable ARG where we had to "solve" a poster and complete favors for our god or something. There was a PvE format to fight a Hydra deck and my god I loved that stuff. I left magic for a while and when I came back last September, I realize how... "forceful" the business model is. It turned from an enjoyable rollercoaster ride to a polluted factory machine pumping out the next content as soon as possible.
I absolute LOVE that you support local game stores so much. I'm gonna give a shout out to my favorite LGS Zulu's Board Game Cafe in Bothell, WA. Absolutely fantastic service, awesome events and the staff is great. It says a lot when my other LGS options include Mox Boarding House (AKA cardkingdom) and I still choose to go to Zulu's!
I went there for the first time last week, it was amazing! I got to play magic while the rest of my family played board games. Great place with great people!
I really feel #2 personally. As a new player to Magic the amount of sets, reprint sets, unsets, and whatever else they keep throwing out there confuses me to no end. I really wanted to get into paper magic, but I've found myself playing Arena more and more due to the nature of it only containing the core sets and being easier to follow (and also allows me to play some cards without spending any money on them). Although Arena itself also has problems.
I started playing Magic back during Ice Age(1995), quit for a time, and came back about 8 years ago and I'm also having trouble following the deluge of products WOTC is spewing from every orifice these days. It's ridiculous when even your long time players can't follow what you're doing with the game.
@@AndresColumbus Arena IS trash. Calling somebody trash, just because they tolerate playing it, is not the way to fight this war, soldier. Wizards of the Coast needs to bear the brunt of our rage.
Speaking on #2 I started playing mtg this year and I felt overloaded with new information. At first I thought it was normal and seeing this video makes me feel not so alone on trying to keep up with everything. This channel is so helpful to me understanding happenings.
I think a lot of these illustrate the true underlying issues: Hasbro is out to milk WotC and the people at the top of WotC are losing their touch, both with the game (although there are some good things they are doing, there are by no means enough) and with their community.
I feel like it's more like this -- WoTC employees who care: ''Hey we'd like to engage in the community there's an upset about what we've been doing'', then Suits at Hasbro: ''Fuck em, and shut up we need to create more product.''
I genuinely love how much you genuinely love this community. Far from a cynical countdown video, here you are lining your criticism with optimism and dedicating a significant chunk of time to LGS shout outs. More of this please, humanity!
I get the luxury of going to a WPN Premium store. It does bother me a lot that the ampersand promos were pretty abundant in the amount given to the store by WotC (I got a bunch just for attending events), but somehow non-Premium stores got absolutely none.
The idea of wpn vs non wpn store is to me absolutely absurd. My town is barely big enough for one lgs and he also sells comics, Warhammer, Pokémon, miniatures/models, music, retro vidya. Just a ton of stuff. We used to be wpn but someone else opened a game store here and split the community and now neither are wpn. I guess it's just weird to limit the amount of products non-wpn stores get. Like don't you want to sell your product? Why wouldn't you sell as much as possible to the stores willing to pay for it?
The local game store I go to is premium. And honestly, they’re pretty pompous and slightly predatory. If I had another option, I would go to another store.
Thank you for keeping Wizards on thier toes and continuing to point out thier shortcomings and voicing concerns many of us (un)happy players have. In a time when people hate "negativity" thank you for pointing out why criticism is important for the development of this game. 🙌
My childhood local game store had so much influence on me and even though magic wasn't big in my area at the time, I can connect with these great stories about game stores and meeting people. It really was special and I say was because now I live in a place with only one game store and it's not a great experience to go to.
I feel this on a personal level too. We had two great stores in my area (east idaho) and now the town I live in has just one, and while I love the owner the store environment is deteriorating quickly and less people want to frequent the store. Our modern community found a new place to play this year though, but with rising gas prices a long drive to a store each week will be a drain until our local store gets its stuff together.
@@jamesgratz4771 gruff employees and standoffish players. Not very inviting to new people because they are playing board games I'm unfamiliar with and don't cater to games I already know how to play (which is fine I put myself out there to try new games) but been demeaned/made fun of a lot for being a first time player. Not really a good time when your 29 and being constantly called old, outdated by high schoolers for trying new things.
Im glad you mentioned amazon direct selling a few times. I own a LGS and have basically stopped selling dungeons and dragons as wholesale price is now the same as their amazon prices. May stop buying sealed mtg as well except for a box to sell packs from.
Here in Australia I was talking to my LGS owner he said thanks to arena it's all but killed draft and pre releases because people just play arena than buy the singles they want on line. I told him maybe he should think about selling singles, to which he informed me that he had started selling a few but the lack of product and the constent delay on new product has made that next to impossible
Can confirm as an LGS owner that it has made prereleases WAY worse by nature. People are less awed when playing the set cause, well they have a few times in the last week already. The rush to get to that first event on Fri is gone and therefore the remaining players that still care about prerelease in store get spread out. I could go on and on but I firmly disagree with Prof that its been a better year than not for MTG. I see the red flags and, while alot of it can be due to my area, see that there is no future for LGS. I see so many people leaving the game and the issues they have will likely not be fixed. I plan on closing because its a waste of time if the game I put so much effort in just steps over you and takes profits. Hell they raised base cost this year! Hasbro is a bad company and I honestly hope they pay for basically putting MTG on the path to die.
I do recall getting a free promo card this year from a "Love your LGS" event from a non-premium store. They just weren't D&D Ampersand promos. They were specifically retro border foil cards from earlier sets. I had the option between Scavenging Ooze and Goblin Guide (took the Goblin). After looking it up, there was also Aven Mindcensor, Dig Through Time, and Bolas's Citadel from this event, but just happened to not be at my store. Also interestingly, Japan got a few specific cards when I look them up in Scryfall. They all have a cute riceball character in the art. These were three different versions of Ord of Dragonkind.
Thanks for the shoutout-hope you're able to stop by sometime again soon! Premium WPN status is a strange and elusive phenomenon that requires a HUGE investment of money and time ... often to the detriment of other potential gaming communities at the store. Thank you for calling attention to this!
I loved your other videos, too. I know being a bit of a bummer sucks. But you make a great voice for critiquing the game we all love. To another good year of cards and games with people we love!
Having played continuously since the games inception and having been the target audience for the original Time Spiral I would have been overjoyed to get TSR boxes at any reasonable price. I can't do it, especially when it is surrounded by MH2, Commander Legends, and standard sets.
I quit Arena when Alchemy came out, as it became clear that it was becoming a product “not for me”. On the positive side, my thirst for Magic is coming back, and it can be explored in other environments like Spelltable and LGSs.
I really feel the "got pro player names wrong" bit. As someone who works in entertainment, having done some live broadcast work, I have definitely done events where we have name graphics for people on stage, but we don't know who they are in the booth, and we don't have a producer available to tell us who is who. We had to wait until the interviewer said their names, or tried to quickly google them. It's a tough feeling for the technical crew when they're left hanging.
I had stopped playing paper magic in around 2004 when all of my cards were stolen from my bag. I kept a far eye on magic, still interested in the lore and set design. Flash forward to arena release: I was hooked again. I am extremely grateful for arena for reintroducing me to current magic, but as time went on the cracks in the foundation became more and more apparent. With the treatment of historic as the final straw, I've since made an effort to explore the lgs's in my area. I've been getting into commander and am so thankful to see that many stores in my area host commander nights. I feel like a teenager again, looking forward to the weekend to play cards at the store. Thank you arena, but the sun is setting on our relationship. Even Teferi cannot slow that.
Yo I did this exact same thing a few months back. I stopped playing around ‘96 and I checked out Arena earlier this year. I quickly got to the point of spending real money and kind of figured, my wife might leave me but I’m going to buy real magic cards lol. Fortunately I found a few people who play kitchen table EDH and it’s just been awesome. Just like you said, I feel like a teenager again and the nostalgia hits so hard. My wife teases me relentlessly after the nerdy bois leave the house though 😂
Commander is the only type of Magic that I will play anymore. Because it is the only format that hasn't been so brutally swallowed up by tournament competition, that only by playing one of three or four "competitive blueprints" of deck-build can you find success. Commander, however, by its very design, is impossible to be dominated by only one or two specific kinds of decks. Every time I play group Commander, I find someone playing a whole new deck/commander combo that I've never seen before! And I've been playing Commander for more than a decade by now!
"What is better than this?" Sums up perfectly how I feel about in person events. There's something magical (if you'll pardon the pun) about being in a building with all those players.
I really liked how you talked about the way WotC treats stores differently. Would you consider making a video talking in-depth about the WPN program, its tiers and requirements? I'm certain both fans and potential store owners would be very curious about how everything works and why we have such a gap between the options in each LGS.
Just wanna say thank you from Sweden for another great year! A true pillar of the community! Just listened to your episode on Casual MTG, laughed out loud a couple of times! " and you wake from your dreams and see all the card board on the floor". Thank you!
Didn’t know you were a Bay Area guy prof, Games of Berkeley was my first game store when I moved to the area and got back into magic, but I found my favorite magic community at Endgame. Eudo closing hit hard too. Nothing really replaced it for me, but I want to give a shout-out to Victory Point and It’s Your Move.
I was extremely disappointed in the vampire set. " I would have loved to see vampires get support that made them playable in modern, but I understand that it was a lot to ask." "Maybe in Pioneer there will be at least one playable card that spices up the vampire builds." Nope. "Well, at least in standard vampires might be competitive :D" Nope. I was looking so forward to this set and to be let down this bad I don't even want to play mtg anymore to be honest
Cube is mostly the way I play anymore and I don’t think there’s much Vow offers for Cube that excites me enough to care about the set. It’s the only standard set I haven’t picked up in 25 years.
Crimson Vow broke me (along with the fact that even in one of the most populous parts of the US with dozens of game stores, Standard either almost never fires or isn't offered at all. Pioneer is non-existent, and Modern is so expensive to get into. Commander it is!)
Edgar is actually pretty damn good in Pioneer Vampires - he's the midrangiest of Midrange creatures, so much that the deck pivoted into Orzhov entirely for him and sideboard cards. It's maybe not the most tribal deck in the world (grindy midrange with few lords and no mechanical theme beyond type synergies), but there is a highly competitive Vampires deck in Pioneer that got a major benefit from Crimson Vow. Modern now is warped by companions and Horizons, which Vampires don't have great options for or against, and Standard is a crapshoot. One format getting a really good Vampires deck (albeit one that just needed a small push) out of a Vampire set is a success compared to many sets that failed to make any impact with their intended themes - Urza block back in the late 90's had two enchantment-based mechanics (of three total) and not a single enchantment from those sets was in any of the insanely powerful decks and archetypes it created - most have never been seen since.
I still love TSR. Favorite set out of the past few years. Wish I could afford a box or two to open occasionally. Great work as always Prof. Here's to hoping for a better year.
I wanted a TSR set cube. But the set was so underprinted and overpriced, I opted to proxy most of it, instead of buying original cards. WotC's failure to print more cards is a failure for them to print money.
I just started playing about two months ago and this channel has been a great resource. It was nice, because I already frequented my local comic shop which also doubles as a game store. So when I pop in to get my weekly comics I can now buy some new cards too! I'm still new at basically everything, but I figured I'd just drop a comment to say how genuinely helpful this channel has been for someone brand new not just to magic, but card games as a whole.
Bang on about the ampersand, was so excited to collect all the printings of drizzt do'urden, when ampersands finally hit the secondary market, Drizzt was listed for 225 + USD. If you think the premium store thing is bad in the states check Canada's # of premium store numbers.
when I first played magic casually with some friends in high school I enjoyed it a lot. But the pro tour is what really made me love this game. The state of magic pro play these days really is a shame
I tried to answer the rapid-fire questions in the "product overload" section, and I got maybe 2 of them. I used to love poring over all the products and learning about where that nifty alternate art came from and now? Now I'm just tired.
Just premium stores? Wow... that's really dropping the ball on LGS's. I used to be management in a chain that contained some core stores, including ours and although it's been nearly 4 years it always seemed very unfair to me our chain would seem to get priority over more established LGSs that had more space for events. There were a couple times we sold pre-release kits to the other shops just to cover events when they'd been shorted.
Wow, game parlour is super new and it really caught me off guard to hear that it’s premium wpn, while the Bay Area stores I more regularly think of when I think “magic the gathering” aren’t. Idk, just thought I’d mention that to back up your point about wpn premium qualifications being absurd and also to give a shout-out to the SF Bay Area magic community. Also wow I’m so sad to hear that Eudemonia closed! I recently moved away so I didn’t know :(
I really appreciate you hyping up and talking about your happy memories with your LGS's. I use to go to Versus all the time before I lost interest in attending events and settled into only playing casual kitchen table commander. Edit: When you turned your head at 15:18 to segway into #2, an ad for the Pokemon TCG started playing 😂
Print quality is an issue, too. I was organizing my old collection of Journey Into Nyx cards, and they’re all crispy and perfectly flat, meanwhile my still-wrapped secret lair foils would make a Pringle blush.
This is Ben from D20 Games. Thanks for the Kind words, and I could not agree with you more. There seems to be a schism in the wizards these days, between the folks who was trying to help/take care of the Local came stores, and the ex-Microsoft executives and sales guys who are trying to maximize their individual quarterly sales without any consideration or realization of the long-term health of the games. You were right about the difficulty getting the premium status and how incredibly frustrating that is. We are a small shop but prettyeight years before Covid we’re always at the top percentages for new players, returning players, number of events run. At one point we ran more to head to Giants miniature store in the country. Now we set an unsold non-full versions commander sets, Watch as wizards trains customers we always used to come to us to buy the good stuff to start shopping for it online because that’s the only way to get a bunch of premium things. And we end up seeing booster boxes and otherwise it’s products on sale at wizards Amazon store for pretty close to what we pay for it. They don’t seem to get the value of the cards in general is based on how useful they are in play, and if there aren’t local stores where the play starts, find of opening packs goes down, the value of the boxes go down, and the whole thing, that has stayed alive through careful stewardship for the last 25 years risks finally turning into beanie babies. Arena could have been done as a collaboration with the local stores and paper magic Instead of being an active threat to us Pokémon I’ve been doing digital packs in there paper packs for years, and that was even a paper card game recently that had the ability to scan the cards directly. Investing a lot of money in digital magic, makes for coming out and doing that same kind of investment to start playing standard, etc. a big barrier. Perfect example of this tone deaf response was the D&D essentials tool kit which came with a coupon for half off a digital version of the Players Handbook. The right way to do that would be to either include a digital version with a paper version for a discount from one to the other so that people are not forced to buy the same thing twice, and have incentive not to buy from the stores. Wizards does does not have to lose anything by creating a more collaborative environment with the small stores, In fact will create a mutual path to greater long-term good. But the ex-Microsoft folks have to change from how much did I make this quarter in bonuses, to not chopping off the wings of the Golden goose. (I do understand The Microsoft mindset. I spent some time there as part of my dark and distant past.)
So some cursory research shows that in all of the Boston metro area, likely all of Massachusetts, and possibly all of New England there is only ONE Premium store, which is completely absurd. If you're in VT, NH, or ME, you'd have to drive for hours to get to one. In RI you might be closer to the one in CT. Does Premium status require a blood sacrifice or something?
I've talked with my lgs owner, the standards are absurd. It's a lot about spending ridiculous amounts of money on appearance things like tables and chairs. Additionally WotC wanted to see his financials for the last couple years which he was not comfortable with
I looked up my local area, and the two stores that have Premium are relatively new outfits - shops that have been around for decades don't have it. So, I looked up the "quality checklist", and I think WotC intentionally targets new stores that go all-in on MTG. For instance - my FLGS, which proudly displays set boxes and posters going back years, would fall afoul of the Premium requirement that Magic marketing materials must all be from the last 12 months. Reading the rest, to my eyes WotC treats Premium as "you're running a MTG store, not a gaming store" - almost like a franchise, except without most of the benefits.
Very cool to see Black Diamond Games mentioned on this channel. Caught me by surprise this morning. It’s a store I go to, and honestly didn’t know there were premium stores.
One of my favourite stores in the Bay Area is Cards & Comics Central. That’s where I learned, grew up, I spent the majority of my childhood jamming games and cracking packs there. It has some of my fondest memories. It’s in the inner Richmond on the city of San Francisco. If you’re near, I highly recommend!
I want wizards to reconsider how stingy they are on Arena. I used to spend about $20 a month on the game, mainly to draft, but I started to realize how bad the payouts were, how punishing losing was, and how many amazing indie games I could buy with the same money. So, for the last year, I haven’t spent a dime. I still play multiple hours a week, but I just mindlessly grind the one or two decks I can afford to complete quests and save up to do a quick draft once every couple of weeks. And sometimes, when grinding historic feels crappy or frustrating, I delete the app entirely and ignore it for a week or two. Definitely not what I hoped for a modern magic video game and hopefully not what Wizards intended either. Bummer.
They put to much emphasis on winning. Instead of playing for enjoyment instead if you lose it feels like an absolute waste of time. They should change the weekly goals from strictly winning to just be playing games in general and having fun.
This is what I used to do in hopes of getting all the cards unlocked but every time I could take my gold and make it into gems for a draft and then not be able to make a good deck I truly was sad that I was so bad but as time went on my goal slowly became unattainable so I dropped MTGA now im buying singles from my lgs playing comander and if there is a set that captivates me I spend the money on the pre release kit and play some sealed( still bad at it but hoping to get better the more I play) I realized that all the love I have for mtg is not simply rooted in the mechanics of the game but rather the social time I get to spend with other individuals who also enjoy the game I enjoy seeing store owners have a full house and truly see the fruition of all there hard work it's the people that make this game so special mtga I slowly realized is none of those things and it's a sad realization too
Thank you Professor for mentioning and supporting the LGSs in the Bay Area. I help organize MTG events at Magic the Gathering at The Game Parlour SF and we've had a few new customers stop by thanks to this video. This was a gift.
Modern horizons 2 reprinting of half the fetchlands, absolutely got me buying set booster boxes. Even at 220 a box i was still able to consistently sell singles and grab more boxes. That being said, as i was enjoying that set and budgeting to buy more of it, i saw afr on shelves, like 8 new precon commander decks, unreasonable amounts of secret lairs, innistrad october and innistrad december. OVERLOAD !
I've played magic for over 25 years, and I have a lot of opinions. Instead, I'll say that I do miss organized play. Even before that, I miss Wizards' coverage of events. Magic content is so fragmented and hard to find. I only just recently found this channel! Always a good watch.
That the continuing issue of print quality didn't make the list feels like a bad sign. Also says a lot when the dismantling of organized play and the mess that is LGS support are only at 4 and 5.
Appreciate leading off with the game store issue, Prof. Mine ended up dropping support for draft because of 2021's product availability issues and I miss it / the people I knew there.
On the topic of the handling of competitive play, don’t forget the “OP will not be explicitly designed to support competitive Magic as a career path” tweet that’s basically WotC admitting they hate pro players. I don't think they've ever said anything with remotely as much contempt for their core audience as that. Also, I think there’s two other things that should’ve been on here: 1. Modern Horizons 2. They’ve basically turned Modern into a rotating format. Go look at the Modern meta on Goldfish, 3 of the top 10 most played cards in the format are from MH2. Hell, 7(!!!) of the top 10 creatures played are MH2. 2. Universes Beyond. I know the shock of the Walking Dead was last year, but they announced Universes Beyond this year. They just keep grinding the game down into a gray slop Brand™ and we all hate it.
I went to Versus Games for the War of The Spark prerelease when I was out in San Fran for work! It was an unforgettable experience and the staff there were so awesome!
What tool/website did the professor use to see which stores were premium/not? Wanted to check which stores around me were premium. Good video as well prof, keep it up!
In Arena, further thought being put into the deck weight system would be better. I am very tired of mirror matches when I play unranked games. Putting in some modes, puzzles, or challenges from the old Duels of the Planeswalkers games would be nice as well.
Eudo closing hit hard, it was my first game store that I ever went to and I remember going out of my way sometimes just to visit. To know it no longer exists hurts a little bit.
Honestly, I’d count Arena’s decline as a “best thing”. Arena’s gotten so bad that I finally gave up, deleted it and now only play Magic in-person at my LGS. If Arena was good, I’d be more inclined to play that and miss out on the positive social experience of sitting across from a real person, playing actual cards.
@championchap that’s what I used to say as well, until everyone proved how wrong I am. And I’m not saying about what Arena did wrong either, people have been saying this paper-Magic-forever thing long before Arena even existed. I used to say how Magic would benefit so much if they had an online client just like Hearthstone is, with their own event and economy system, they would stand to make so much more money like that, and whether the players like it or not, they will spend their money into it. And then I realized no one even wants to play Magic that way, paper is still the way to go for Magic, always has been and always will be.
I think there’s a home for digital Magic, if done right. Something that would allow people to easily try out decks before committing to buying one in paper. Something for those who don’t have a nearby LGS or a play group. And I think high-level pro Magic should all be digital to prevent cheating. But it should be supplementary to paper, not the primary focus.
@@Scantronimus466 I agree with you on your points. I don't have anything nearby me anymore but I also don't really get as much free time (not to mention most of my collection was stolen years ago...RIP) but me and a couple buddies still try to get together and play a bit and reminisce at least.
Hey, I hadnt watched one of your videos in forever and just happened to move to the bay area from the middle of nowhere, thanks for the recs! Checking some of those stores out.
I didnt even know about those dnd promos or that day before this video. Really wish they support beyond the premiums for that day. Maybe just offer specific extra promos for those stores but offer a wide variety to all as well.
Hi Prof! I just finished watching this video, and as always it was excellent! Your opening bit about WPN status and how difficult it is for small shops to get it hits so so close to home. I work at an LGS in Philly and we've been trying hard to meet all the requirements to get that designation. I appreciate how much emphasis you put on the importance of local game shops (& the vibe of the channel in general)! You probably won't see this, but thank you so much for what you and your team do!
@@soarel325 the monkey would be fine if he wasn't a mythic rare! Like I don't knock my friends who can afford their monkeys but good lord, that set with its overpriced elementals, the monkey, and completely rotating old archetypes... Like I loved drafting it and playing the new cards I got, but in the 3 draft boxes I got, I only got 2 fetchlands and 1 darci. Almost nothing else of value.
I'm so glad I found this channel. I used to play mtg but I was a kid. Long story short I gave all my cards away. Now I'm 32 and all I have left is magic arena. I know the community hates it but I love it. I haven't gotten past being able to wildcard trade for my old cards. I know its not perfect or anywhere close but I'm just so excited to be playing again. Anyways this channel has helped me crash course back into mtg. Looking for friends to play arena with. Hmu for my UN
When did you start playing that you're able to get your old cards on Magic Arena? Most of the cards from the early to mid 2000's aren't available on Arena yet unless they got reprinted within the past couple years of sets.
Yep. That’s weird. Game Parlour is great but only a few years old (and has less robust MTG event schedules) compared to many of the others in the Bay Area.
Great video - lots of valid points made. Would love to see a "best things that happened" video as well. Positivity is a great thing for the community! P.S. "Why was Chandra at the vampire wedding?"... Exactly! They need to focus on the lore of the game a bit more with things like booklets or flavor text that explains everything better.
I can't help but feel like MTG is going through the same decline that occurred with WoW. I wonder if there's a point of critical mass for games before companies lose sight of quality in favor of quantity. My hypothesis is it's when it's sold to a company whose only priority is profit.
It’s what happens when a niche becomes increasingly mainstream. Magic of ten years ago wouldn’t be doing crossovers with random IPs and Post Malone, the WoW comparison is pretty apt.
I live out in Pennsylvania, there are a total of 4 WPN stores in the entire state. 1 located just outside of Pittsburgh, and 3 located just outside of Philadelphia. The closest one to me is a 4 hour drive. The amount of WPN stores needs to be increased especially with how many WPN specific events and products exist now.
I feel that wotc has done a lot to make the game more mass marketable, and less inclusive. A lot of the soul of MtG has been stripped out, for corporate greed. Hasbro, WotC's parent company took a major ding due to NERF, one of their other major brands basically taking a TKO from another company which has released better AND cheaper products, along with the advent of 3D printed foam flinging blasters. So instead, Hasbro is saying "forget this cow, lets milk all these other ones twice as hard!"
Hasbro is a toy company, and toys as a whole have been on a downward trajectory for a while. I'm not surprised they're looking to tabletop games (and related pursuits like online versions of them) as their new primary revenue stream.
Hearing you mention my old hometown of Pacifica reminded me of being a 8 year old going to the local comic/card shop to buy Pokemon and Magic boosters.
I dunno man, I used to love arena but these days I don't even feel like logging in to make a deck of 1 drops in any given color and throw games for daily challenges. Historic brawl was my jam until alchemy came out. No idea why they randomly banned a bunch of cards with zero announcement of doing so, unless that was a bug. I'm hanging up my arena towel for the foreseeable future.
I don't play too much competitive magic anymore (kids, covid, work, etc.) But I adore EDH. I always make a point to buy from my local game store, not just because of your videos, but I know the importance that they play in the community. Thank you for your candor and insights!
Right before the pandemic happened, my local game store that I had visited since I started playing the game closed. Everybody who frequented there knew everyone's names and it was a very welcoming environment. Just last week I noticed that a new game store was opening just two doors down from where the old one had been. I don't know why anyone would open a new game store with a new Covid variant on the horizon but I do know I'll be supporting them as much as I can and will try to get all of my friends to do the same.
Completely agree with every single point here. Thank you for constantly being a voice advocating for the community, Prof! Happy New Years, see you in 2022!
I live in the city that is considered the economic capital of my province and we only have 1 "premium" WPN store, and it's a store that my friend said he's had bad experiences at in the past too.
You’ve forced me to confront my own responsibility for algorithmic choices preferring negative content: somehow I’ve been putting off your “Best Things” video but I clicked your “worst things” video as soon as it popped in my feed. Now I am off to watch your best things video twice to right this wrong! (But thanks as always for the video, and happy new year)
@@fastydave The nature of this conversation invalidates your use of the word 'literally', but beyond that I'm curious what numbers you are appealing to. Was there a survey taken of some kind? Or are you just appealing the number of people still buy magic - which would be a pointless yardstick of determining whether there is an appetite to follow a pro scene. Meanwhile we could look at the views for pro tour vods or streams, or the attendance at those events up until they stopped running them. We could also look at engagement with content creators, and what happened to their traffic before and after the death of the pro scene. But regardless, it seems a weird flex to be compelled to tell me whether people beyond you and me agree with me or not, when I only spoke for myself in the first place.
@@fastydave Ahh, so you were appealing to none of the people that you personally consider to qualify as 'a' somebody caring. Settled a lot of disputes with that mighty hammer, have you? Meanwhile, I suppose I can rule out the majority of content creators or general influencers from the magic scene as people who you consider to be a somebody, given they all lament the death of the pro scene.
ive been on and off with MTG for a few years now, me and about 5 friend all bought starter decks and then slowly were pitching in to buy packs and craft decks to play with... most of us have moved away now and i have given them away to people in gamer community threads to help get more people into MTG or really any kinda card games honestly. thanks for all these videos ive learned much from you. we dont really have places that sell cards just your typical target and wal mart if they decide to stock them hardly and they ever do but ive found a vending machine at one of my grocery store that sells boosters newest are 5 and previous set is 4$ each pack, bought a few it was nice to go through them all read them and understand how important some are because of just listening to you throughout time. i wish i had the opprotunity to afford opening larger amounts and stream some of it too. i have terrible anxiety trying to talk to anyone or be around others but i want to be around people and trading cards kinda helped break a wall of comfortablilty and allowed me to bond with others while doing something that keeps me from getting panicky.
This sucks so much. I want so badly to love arena, to play it more, for it to be a great client that rivals other TCG's. WOTC keep shooting themselves in the foot and at this point It feels like I'm doing the same.
I have a few odd comments on Arena that I haven't see mentioned: - Ability to easily sort decks by color, recent, or most played--ascending and descending in BOTH the decks main page and when selecting a deck after choosing game mode. - totally revising the deck builder UI...at the very least having a "+" and "-" sign beside the cards in the list and having nothing happening when clicking on the bar for the card name. - Having a best-of-1 option that has the same legal cards as best of 3 (not those "arena core cards" or w/e) - when selecting a play mode, maybe having the last 3 played decks on the bottom right corner, not just the currently selected/last played deck - dedicated historic pauper format -Maybe some random stats generated like win ratio of each deck, most casted cards (for you and for entire arena community), your most played color, etc.
Prof, serous question following... I would like to support my LGS's but I feel like I'm being ripped off sometimes. I can get booster boxes at release for 95 or 100 shipped from several different sellers online, but my LGS's want around 120 or more for a box at the counter. At what point am I being a little jipped by my LGS and at what point should players start to consider online sellers if their LGS is clearly charging too much?
Amazon may live on without you buying a booster box, but for a LGS it really can make a difference and help them thrive. If you think your LGS is being dishonest with you, yeah, go somewhere else. But if they are kind and nice but the prices are high, it is maybe because they really need them that way.
Honestly if you want just boxes go online but. Do prioritize singles at your lgs and if you go in make sure to buy som snacks or packs to support them. When I go in for commander with friends I I end up spending anywhere from $25-75.
Your LGS likely has more costs associated with their business: labor, utilities, taxes, etc. Where as online stores have a much lower overhead and this can charge less. So Sure you can buy it online for less but the idea is to support the store that employees the community around you, who services events, and provides a place for your local gaming community. It's your choice if you want to or even are able to support that. Regardless 120 for a box seems pretty standard at an LGS, I don't think it's a jip or rip off.
I'm from the san fran bay area too, but lived further up north for a long time. The ONE game store we had while I lived there shut down in about 2005, with the owners denoting a lot of the same issues THEN as we're seeing more regularly NOW - lack of mothership support. RIP Neal's Enterprises, you were where I started really playing and I miss y'all.
I was still very interested in Magic Cards this year but all the Product, MDFCs, and Showcase Treatments has me buying less than ever. I’m happy about it too! Still love the game and all the extra noise has actually made it easier for me to tune out the stuff that doesn’t interest me.
used to go to black diamond games every Wednesday for pokemon when i was a kid. amazing community. Havent been there for any magic events but id imagine the community is just as good. Great video, Hopefully ill see you there.
Every single year since the creation of their channels, the best things about MTG annually is Vince and Prof. Closely followed by legends of the game like LSV, Ben Stark & PVD Da Rosa No questions about it. There's my top 5. For this year and next.
I think the main reason magic the gathering was so chaotic in 2020 is because arena was new, the pandemic forced everyone to stay indoors or at least not play magic with strangers in person, and magic was not prepared for people playing so much that flaws that normally would be missed were revealed from all the stats gained from the digital game.
When I started to play magic, it was thanks to Magic arena, it seemed to me like a publicity tool to show you the mechanics of mtg and incentive the player to buy physical pieces of the game. It was cool that you could try cards that seemed to be great in arena before actually buying them in your LGS. Now it is literally another product of WoTC, f2p players can't keep up with so many new rares and mythics. The feeling goes further with the addition of Alchemy in historic and brawl. I don't feel like it is worth the time to try and keep playing when your 4 copies of any rare or mythic get an errata without giving you wildcards in compensation.
Really thought MH2 was going to be on both lists. Really the fetch lands reprint should have been alone in the best-of list, and MH2 should have been here. I was so excited to go back to my LGS, but quit after weeks of Ragavan piles. Saffron Olive hit the nail on the head that power level isn't the problem; it's the individual snowball cards that win the game on their own. It's just boring.
I just wanted Arena to be a tool to build my decks for testing, so I can build their counterparts in paper. It did not really work that well to start with, but alchemy made it almost impossible, to get a representation of my paper play. Now I just hope Magic Online will be released for Mac soon.
Is It Better To Have Powerful But Broken Sets Or Weak But Balanced? Our thoughts: ruclips.net/video/NLmffj6NN1Y/видео.html
thanks prof
Great video Prof! As always, thankyou. I disagree that we want social interaction on Arena if it involves letting players actually type or talk to each other though. It'll be nothing but instant toxicity that is only outpaced by games like League of Legends.
I preffered your best things video, but I appreciate your honesty. I hope wizards will listen.
@@chadparris8892 hear hear my friend!
Arena prove that we're going to be stuck with MTGO forever, and that there will be no MTGO 2
As a game store owner without premium, you preached what I've been saying. It did almost seem personal.
@@altosforteaquax5083 maybe. Thanks for the reply.
@@altosforteaquax5083 I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you saying it is an entitled attitude to assume a publisher that a store does the favor of supporting shouldn't stab the store in the back by undercutting them?
@@altosforteaquax5083 you're pathetic
@@altosforteaquax5083 Imagine simping for Hasbro.
@@altosforteaquax5083 I might point out that while the syntax of "imagine" is not direct, there is very definitely meaning behind the words. Especially given the 14/0 reply/comment like ratio, it is clearly a piece of communication that deserves more than mere contempt
Also if youre going to think purely in terms of profit, you're vastly undervaluing PR. Wizards used to support these stores, they developed a community BECAUSE of these stores, just because they have no legal obligation to support them doesnt mean it isn't stabbing people in the back to suddenly pull the rug out from under a symbiotic relationship thats been going on for years. Wizards used them to propel itself, and is now dropping them by the wayside. People feel betrayed by that, and if you dont care about humans themselves, care about how people feeling betrayed hurts profit potential. If companies introduce change in such a jarring way that the customers feel bad buying product, thats the companies fault, no matter how economically sensible it is to the investor board
You are still the hero we need professor. Thank you for being a voice for the community. You sit at the table like the rest of us, understand the love of the game, and enjoy the fun of the gathering. Thank you for being the voice we need. You are still one of us.
Here to help the algorithm.
I would love to see Magic do what Pokemon already does, if you get a pack you get a code for a pack in the online game. Everytime I purchase a pack of Pokemon from my game shop I get a digital pack.
This doesn't even get into the ability to trade but I never see that happen.
Also, on a similar topic, there was a Yu-Gi-Oh game for the game boy advanced that allowed you to input a cards code into the game and you’d be able to use that card in the game even if it was just against in game players.
I stopped playing Arena this year. After pretty much spending 100€ every set since its release. I participated in the beta and played from there on without interruption always hoping that it would some day turn into what I wanted from it and that is: simply a digital client to play Magic with my friends. Thats all i wanted it to be, a modern, user friendly client to drop in and play the Magic I know digitally with my friends. Always hoping that multiplayer would one day be a thing.
If they would have given me that I wouldve gladly invested more of my money in it. But I think this year really showed me ... it will never be that. It probably was never intended to be that, its a testbed for ideas on how to extract even more money from an already exhausted consumer-base and to try out gimmicks just to quickly abandon almost all support for them when they dont work out IMMEDIATELY. Wizards is plain lazy when it comes to Arena, its just another tool for them to reach that cocky goal of doubling their revenue within 5 years, set out by Hasbro in 2019 (or was it 2018?) and I have to now face that and take my money and my time elsewhere.
I uninstalled arena 1 month ago, its predatory garbage. Wont be returning to Arena, I've played paper like 6 times this year the game just isnt what it was due to power creep and there is no going back.
I'm in the exact same boat. Played since beta, I've been shouting on Reddit for years now about how this game is driving itself into the ground. Prof said it best back then - Arena was amazing and the only thing they had to do was not shoot themselves in the foot. Naturally, WotC took this as a challenge, went in papa Hasbro's gun cabinet, got out the 12 gauge, and aimed squarely at all 10 toes, one at a time.
I'm done. I quit after Vow. I spent every last coin I earned since playing daily from Midnight Hunt's release, and then using it all to draft as hard as I could. When all was said and done, I opened over 100 packs of Vow, and when the dust cleared I barely had more vault progress (not that I'm gonna open it until they improve the vault) and I was STILL missing rares and mythics - I'm not talking about having 4x of anything, I mean there were rares I had 0 of - and that is embarassing. There is no reason it should be this hard to have THE GAME PIECES needed to play the game. In paper, sure, ,you're obtaining a collectible but you get to keep them forever, or trade them to other people. Even in MTGO you can trade with people. But since there is no trading, no turning in what you don't need, there is ZERO reason you can't more easily obtain the cards. What's WotC worried about? People enjoying their game too much?
I was not buying cosmetics on principle because they eat all my card resources. I promise you, if cards were twice, thrice as easy to obtain, I would blow so much fucking money on cosmetics. But when it doesn't feel good to buy a card sleeve at higher than a 90% off daily deal, that is an absolute feelbad.
So I'm done. Fuck it. Arena had their chance, and blew off 10 toes in rapid, gory succession. Get bent, Hasbro.
As someone that just loves to draft, I enjoy arena enough for that. For those constructed players, I feel terrible for. I’ve spent just a total of $200 and some change since beta, have only 8ish constructed decks to get me thru my dailies, and only enough wildcards to build 3-4 more upper tier constructed decks. The squeeze is sinful and insulting for constructed players. Real sham(e).
Making Alchemy affect Historic is so goddamn stupid from the player perspective
@@coomlaoaskeen2397 I quit using the client game on this alone. I really hope a couple make it to paper (wickerwing effigy) so that I can actually play with them and have them in a collection that matters.
Eudomonia and Endgame closing down were real heavy hitters for me. I used to play Pathfinder Society when I was a young teenager at Endgame, and those few games I played were an absolute blast. I wouldn't be into magic today if my best friend didn't show me the trailer for Eldraine and take me to the prerelease for it at Eudomonia(which then became my local spot for drafts and singles until Covid). I actually tried to call Eudo to apply for a job there the final day they were open, and it breaks my heart to see WotC ignore these game stores.
Rip Eudo, played a lot of legacy there
Oh shit, this is my first time hearing about it. Eudo was such an awesome, welcoming space. The internet cafe section meant that it never felt empty (and gave me something to do there even if there was nobody around to play mtg)
Victory Point has a great magic community and is only a few blocks from Eudo in Berkeley if you ever want to recapture that feeling.
man i used to love playing Force of will (TCG) at Eudomonia
Eudo was a nice store but I always struggled to find near by parking, Endgame was a beautiful store but was poorly managed by the owner in the end(failed cafe, lack of event support, higher than Target prices on packs)
I've worked for two of the four local game stores where we live. They have both closed, and one of them was here for almost two decades. It was the oldest one we had. I can describe them all in more detail but just know they each have their own unique charm.
The easiest Quality of Life change to MTGA I can think of that would greatly improve the whole experience for me is giving the option of sending a friend request to an opponent at the end of game screen. Often times, I want to tell them how much I enjoyed the match, go over the cool things that happened, ask them for their cool decklist, invite them to my discord, or just connect with a kindred soul (us jank players love talking about our jank). Of course, trolls and toxic people could try to abuse this but it would be much harder because one can only message friends and if someone was being toxic during the match, one can just not friend them and if they turn out to be toxic, unfriending them would completely eliminate their ability to contact you.
This is a great idea! For me the worst times are where I think I have good feedback for my opponent (i.e. I have seen them miss lethal, which happens often. It's no issue if it was subtle, but sometime it seems obvious that they're misunderstanding or forgetting something which will cost them a load of games and frustration) or worry that I might have accidentally been rude (the very worst is hitting 'oops' instead of 'gg' on a win, I did that two days ago and am still recovering).
As you say though, sometimes it is just an unbelievable game that they played really well and you want to congratulate them or ask advice if they're in a deck/archetype that you like.
I love this idea!
A simple opt in chat function solves it too
Honestly, even just saying, "You there?" and them replying, "Sorry, mom came in" or "Sorry, card I drew changes everything." Would lower the assumed toxicity of roping.
Great video. For me the worst thing is one you mentioned - product overload. There's too many new cards in terms of volume and too many new strong cards as well. In their stead, I'd like to see more reprints of existing cards with fancy new art, styles, borders, etc. And I'd like to see new, interesting designs that caution on the side of safety rather than making it too pushed.
Agree with everything. Also really sad to see the increasing cost of keeping up with competitive decks in older formats.
I kind of want to do an analysis of the cost of mtgtop8 decks over time now to see this plotted out. I feel like modern burn used to cost < $200 six years ago, although I could be misremembering that.
@@zaneearldufour well the Kahns fetches used to be 9-15 bucks when they first came out. Now they're more expensive than the other ones.
Especially Old School is limited to a small playerbase that owns Dual Lands and Power Cards - thanks to the Reserved List.
I’m hoping the increased cost leads to more formats welcoming proxies.
7 of the most played creatures in Modern are from Modern Horizons 2 lmao. It's a yearly rotating format.
I think most of these problems can be boiled down to Hasbro finally taking the monetization possibilities of MtG seriously. Now that it's a cultural fad and so popular in media Hasbro wants to milk it for everything it's worth, and doing things how they had been or better for players just isn't in the best interest of profit.
*Short-term profit. FTFY
@@bobobo7730 nah, I doubt Magic will die anytime soon
Greed is the keyword for this and last year in the overall game, video or not, industry. And it will probably continue since no matter the complaints, they are still making record profits
NFTs are on the way my friends....it's already being implemented in the video gaming industry as we speak. Have seen all of this unfold in that genre the past decade, came back to check in on MtG and possibly see what MtGO is all about and this is the same situation I have already watched unfold.....dark days indeed and the Beast is swallowing everything I can get ahold of it seems.
@@Sevatar_VIIIth Considering how hard companies and developers got trashed by the gaming community (and even backed off! That doesn't happen often), this may not be 100% certain.
Then again, the TCG community and Video Game community don't overlap enough to where they're more or less the same.
an anecdote in support of point #2-
Strixhaven advertising.
the marketing around stirxhaven and it's 5 schools was very exciting. It felt like a new mode of personal investment in the color pie. I had friends with little experience with magic who were excited for this new flavor, and old magic players seemed interested in rejoining. But as it turned out, strixhaven was so small and so quickly forgotten. All that buildup for a single set, not even a block. It knocked the wind out of everyone around me who joined or rejoined for strixhaven, to so quickly have wotc move on to its next angle
Did you play around the time of OG Theros? The Prerelease was filled with this strangely excitable ARG where we had to "solve" a poster and complete favors for our god or something. There was a PvE format to fight a Hydra deck and my god I loved that stuff. I left magic for a while and when I came back last September, I realize how... "forceful" the business model is. It turned from an enjoyable rollercoaster ride to a polluted factory machine pumping out the next content as soon as possible.
I absolute LOVE that you support local game stores so much. I'm gonna give a shout out to my favorite LGS Zulu's Board Game Cafe in Bothell, WA. Absolutely fantastic service, awesome events and the staff is great. It says a lot when my other LGS options include Mox Boarding House (AKA cardkingdom) and I still choose to go to Zulu's!
I still need to make my way up there for a draft once this weather passes D:
I went there for the first time last week, it was amazing! I got to play magic while the rest of my family played board games. Great place with great people!
I really feel #2 personally. As a new player to Magic the amount of sets, reprint sets, unsets, and whatever else they keep throwing out there confuses me to no end. I really wanted to get into paper magic, but I've found myself playing Arena more and more due to the nature of it only containing the core sets and being easier to follow (and also allows me to play some cards without spending any money on them). Although Arena itself also has problems.
I started playing Magic back during Ice Age(1995), quit for a time, and came back about 8 years ago and I'm also having trouble following the deluge of products WOTC is spewing from every orifice these days. It's ridiculous when even your long time players can't follow what you're doing with the game.
arena is trash and so are you for supporting it
@@AndresColumbus Arena IS trash. Calling somebody trash, just because they tolerate playing it, is not the way to fight this war, soldier. Wizards of the Coast needs to bear the brunt of our rage.
@@AndresColumbus
Wow, what a constructive addition to the conversation. Real hot take
Same here, i want to get into playing Magic but it is just so confusing and new stuff comes out all the time...
Speaking on #2 I started playing mtg this year and I felt overloaded with new information. At first I thought it was normal and seeing this video makes me feel not so alone on trying to keep up with everything. This channel is so helpful to me understanding happenings.
Straight facts though
I think a lot of these illustrate the true underlying issues: Hasbro is out to milk WotC and the people at the top of WotC are losing their touch, both with the game (although there are some good things they are doing, there are by no means enough) and with their community.
I feel like it's more like this -- WoTC employees who care: ''Hey we'd like to engage in the community there's an upset about what we've been doing'', then Suits at Hasbro: ''Fuck em, and shut up we need to create more product.''
I genuinely love how much you genuinely love this community. Far from a cynical countdown video, here you are lining your criticism with optimism and dedicating a significant chunk of time to LGS shout outs. More of this please, humanity!
I get the luxury of going to a WPN Premium store. It does bother me a lot that the ampersand promos were pretty abundant in the amount given to the store by WotC (I got a bunch just for attending events), but somehow non-Premium stores got absolutely none.
My store isn't premium, and we're super pissed about it.
Some arbitrary conditions decide who gets the opportunity to get up to $700 cards? Lame.
The idea of wpn vs non wpn store is to me absolutely absurd. My town is barely big enough for one lgs and he also sells comics, Warhammer, Pokémon, miniatures/models, music, retro vidya. Just a ton of stuff. We used to be wpn but someone else opened a game store here and split the community and now neither are wpn. I guess it's just weird to limit the amount of products non-wpn stores get. Like don't you want to sell your product? Why wouldn't you sell as much as possible to the stores willing to pay for it?
The local game store I go to is premium. And honestly, they’re pretty pompous and slightly predatory. If I had another option, I would go to another store.
@@DDNEV Tifton Ga is the same story.
i dont think there is a premium store in costa rica at all...
Thank you for keeping Wizards on thier toes and continuing to point out thier shortcomings and voicing concerns many of us (un)happy players have. In a time when people hate "negativity" thank you for pointing out why criticism is important for the development of this game. 🙌
My childhood local game store had so much influence on me and even though magic wasn't big in my area at the time, I can connect with these great stories about game stores and meeting people. It really was special and I say was because now I live in a place with only one game store and it's not a great experience to go to.
Why isn’t it a good experience to go to
I feel this on a personal level too. We had two great stores in my area (east idaho) and now the town I live in has just one, and while I love the owner the store environment is deteriorating quickly and less people want to frequent the store. Our modern community found a new place to play this year though, but with rising gas prices a long drive to a store each week will be a drain until our local store gets its stuff together.
@@jamesgratz4771 gruff employees and standoffish players. Not very inviting to new people because they are playing board games I'm unfamiliar with and don't cater to games I already know how to play (which is fine I put myself out there to try new games) but been demeaned/made fun of a lot for being a first time player. Not really a good time when your 29 and being constantly called old, outdated by high schoolers for trying new things.
Im glad you mentioned amazon direct selling a few times. I own a LGS and have basically stopped selling dungeons and dragons as wholesale price is now the same as their amazon prices. May stop buying sealed mtg as well except for a box to sell packs from.
Here in Australia I was talking to my LGS owner he said thanks to arena it's all but killed draft and pre releases because people just play arena than buy the singles they want on line. I told him maybe he should think about selling singles, to which he informed me that he had started selling a few but the lack of product and the constent delay on new product has made that next to impossible
Can confirm as an LGS owner that it has made prereleases WAY worse by nature. People are less awed when playing the set cause, well they have a few times in the last week already. The rush to get to that first event on Fri is gone and therefore the remaining players that still care about prerelease in store get spread out. I could go on and on but I firmly disagree with Prof that its been a better year than not for MTG. I see the red flags and, while alot of it can be due to my area, see that there is no future for LGS. I see so many people leaving the game and the issues they have will likely not be fixed. I plan on closing because its a waste of time if the game I put so much effort in just steps over you and takes profits. Hell they raised base cost this year! Hasbro is a bad company and I honestly hope they pay for basically putting MTG on the path to die.
I do recall getting a free promo card this year from a "Love your LGS" event from a non-premium store. They just weren't D&D Ampersand promos. They were specifically retro border foil cards from earlier sets. I had the option between Scavenging Ooze and Goblin Guide (took the Goblin). After looking it up, there was also Aven Mindcensor, Dig Through Time, and Bolas's Citadel from this event, but just happened to not be at my store.
Also interestingly, Japan got a few specific cards when I look them up in Scryfall. They all have a cute riceball character in the art. These were three different versions of Ord of Dragonkind.
My store gave everyone all 5 in a draft event
Here in central texas, we too got those old border promos which frankly I was more likely to use.
No fing way! An alt art Orb of Dragonkind? Shut the front door! Damn, I really missed THAT hit! Ugh
Those retro border foil promos are legitimately one of my favorite things to come out this year.
Our store just gave us them at fnm for weeks
Thanks for the shoutout-hope you're able to stop by sometime again soon!
Premium WPN status is a strange and elusive phenomenon that requires a HUGE investment of money and time ... often to the detriment of other potential gaming communities at the store. Thank you for calling attention to this!
I loved your other videos, too. I know being a bit of a bummer sucks. But you make a great voice for critiquing the game we all love. To another good year of cards and games with people we love!
Having played continuously since the games inception and having been the target audience for the original Time Spiral I would have been overjoyed to get TSR boxes at any reasonable price. I can't do it, especially when it is surrounded by MH2, Commander Legends, and standard sets.
I quit Arena when Alchemy came out, as it became clear that it was becoming a product “not for me”. On the positive side, my thirst for Magic is coming back, and it can be explored in other environments like Spelltable and LGSs.
I really feel the "got pro player names wrong" bit. As someone who works in entertainment, having done some live broadcast work, I have definitely done events where we have name graphics for people on stage, but we don't know who they are in the booth, and we don't have a producer available to tell us who is who. We had to wait until the interviewer said their names, or tried to quickly google them. It's a tough feeling for the technical crew when they're left hanging.
I had stopped playing paper magic in around 2004 when all of my cards were stolen from my bag. I kept a far eye on magic, still interested in the lore and set design. Flash forward to arena release: I was hooked again.
I am extremely grateful for arena for reintroducing me to current magic, but as time went on the cracks in the foundation became more and more apparent. With the treatment of historic as the final straw, I've since made an effort to explore the lgs's in my area. I've been getting into commander and am so thankful to see that many stores in my area host commander nights. I feel like a teenager again, looking forward to the weekend to play cards at the store.
Thank you arena, but the sun is setting on our relationship. Even Teferi cannot slow that.
Yo I did this exact same thing a few months back. I stopped playing around ‘96 and I checked out Arena earlier this year. I quickly got to the point of spending real money and kind of figured, my wife might leave me but I’m going to buy real magic cards lol. Fortunately I found a few people who play kitchen table EDH and it’s just been awesome. Just like you said, I feel like a teenager again and the nostalgia hits so hard.
My wife teases me relentlessly after the nerdy bois leave the house though 😂
@@flukenukeem build her a merfolk deck .. my wife began anti.. moved skeptical .. now she is a savage
Commander is the only type of Magic that I will play anymore. Because it is the only format that hasn't been so brutally swallowed up by tournament competition, that only by playing one of three or four "competitive blueprints" of deck-build can you find success.
Commander, however, by its very design, is impossible to be dominated by only one or two specific kinds of decks. Every time I play group Commander, I find someone playing a whole new deck/commander combo that I've never seen before! And I've been playing Commander for more than a decade by now!
"What is better than this?" Sums up perfectly how I feel about in person events. There's something magical (if you'll pardon the pun) about being in a building with all those players.
I really liked how you talked about the way WotC treats stores differently. Would you consider making a video talking in-depth about the WPN program, its tiers and requirements? I'm certain both fans and potential store owners would be very curious about how everything works and why we have such a gap between the options in each LGS.
Just wanna say thank you from Sweden for another great year! A true pillar of the community! Just listened to your episode on Casual MTG, laughed out loud a couple of times! " and you wake from your dreams and see all the card board on the floor". Thank you!
Didn’t know you were a Bay Area guy prof, Games of Berkeley was my first game store when I moved to the area and got back into magic, but I found my favorite magic community at Endgame. Eudo closing hit hard too. Nothing really replaced it for me, but I want to give a shout-out to Victory Point and It’s Your Move.
I was extremely disappointed in the vampire set. "
I would have loved to see vampires get support that made them playable in modern, but I understand that it was a lot to ask."
"Maybe in Pioneer there will be at least one playable card that spices up the vampire builds."
Nope.
"Well, at least in standard vampires might be competitive :D"
Nope.
I was looking so forward to this set and to be let down this bad I don't even want to play mtg anymore to be honest
Cube is mostly the way I play anymore and I don’t think there’s much Vow offers for Cube that excites me enough to care about the set. It’s the only standard set I haven’t picked up in 25 years.
can I have your stuff?
Crimson Vow broke me (along with the fact that even in one of the most populous parts of the US with dozens of game stores, Standard either almost never fires or isn't offered at all. Pioneer is non-existent, and Modern is so expensive to get into. Commander it is!)
Vow literally just pumped dimir zombie support and control meta in standard. Such a disappointment.
Edgar is actually pretty damn good in Pioneer Vampires - he's the midrangiest of Midrange creatures, so much that the deck pivoted into Orzhov entirely for him and sideboard cards. It's maybe not the most tribal deck in the world (grindy midrange with few lords and no mechanical theme beyond type synergies), but there is a highly competitive Vampires deck in Pioneer that got a major benefit from Crimson Vow. Modern now is warped by companions and Horizons, which Vampires don't have great options for or against, and Standard is a crapshoot. One format getting a really good Vampires deck (albeit one that just needed a small push) out of a Vampire set is a success compared to many sets that failed to make any impact with their intended themes - Urza block back in the late 90's had two enchantment-based mechanics (of three total) and not a single enchantment from those sets was in any of the insanely powerful decks and archetypes it created - most have never been seen since.
I started playing Magic this year…best and worst thing to happen in 2021. Your videos help a lot with the learning curve and OVERLOAD! Thanks
I still love TSR. Favorite set out of the past few years. Wish I could afford a box or two to open occasionally. Great work as always Prof. Here's to hoping for a better year.
I wanted a TSR set cube. But the set was so underprinted and overpriced, I opted to proxy most of it, instead of buying original cards.
WotC's failure to print more cards is a failure for them to print money.
@@reatter they knew what they were doing.
I just started playing about two months ago and this channel has been a great resource.
It was nice, because I already frequented my local comic shop which also doubles as a game store. So when I pop in to get my weekly comics I can now buy some new cards too!
I'm still new at basically everything, but I figured I'd just drop a comment to say how genuinely helpful this channel has been for someone brand new not just to magic, but card games as a whole.
Bang on about the ampersand, was so excited to collect all the printings of drizzt do'urden, when ampersands finally hit the secondary market, Drizzt was listed for 225 + USD. If you think the premium store thing is bad in the states check Canada's # of premium store numbers.
when I first played magic casually with some friends in high school I enjoyed it a lot. But the pro tour is what really made me love this game. The state of magic pro play these days really is a shame
I tried to answer the rapid-fire questions in the "product overload" section, and I got maybe 2 of them. I used to love poring over all the products and learning about where that nifty alternate art came from and now? Now I'm just tired.
Just premium stores? Wow... that's really dropping the ball on LGS's. I used to be management in a chain that contained some core stores, including ours and although it's been nearly 4 years it always seemed very unfair to me our chain would seem to get priority over more established LGSs that had more space for events. There were a couple times we sold pre-release kits to the other shops just to cover events when they'd been shorted.
Wow, game parlour is super new and it really caught me off guard to hear that it’s premium wpn, while the Bay Area stores I more regularly think of when I think “magic the gathering” aren’t. Idk, just thought I’d mention that to back up your point about wpn premium qualifications being absurd and also to give a shout-out to the SF Bay Area magic community.
Also wow I’m so sad to hear that Eudemonia closed! I recently moved away so I didn’t know :(
I really appreciate you hyping up and talking about your happy memories with your LGS's. I use to go to Versus all the time before I lost interest in attending events and settled into only playing casual kitchen table commander.
Edit: When you turned your head at 15:18 to segway into #2, an ad for the Pokemon TCG started playing 😂
Print quality is an issue, too. I was organizing my old collection of Journey Into Nyx cards, and they’re all crispy and perfectly flat, meanwhile my still-wrapped secret lair foils would make a Pringle blush.
This is Ben from D20 Games. Thanks for the Kind words, and I could not agree with you more. There seems to be a schism in the wizards these days, between the folks who was trying to help/take care of the Local came stores, and the ex-Microsoft executives and sales guys who are trying to maximize their individual quarterly sales without any consideration or realization of the long-term health of the games.
You were right about the difficulty getting the premium status and how incredibly frustrating that is. We are a small shop but prettyeight years before Covid we’re always at the top percentages for new players, returning players, number of events run. At one point we ran more to head to Giants miniature store in the country. Now we set an unsold non-full versions commander sets, Watch as wizards trains customers we always used to come to us to buy the good stuff to start shopping for it online because that’s the only way to get a bunch of premium things. And we end up seeing booster boxes and otherwise it’s products on sale at wizards Amazon store for pretty close to what we pay for it.
They don’t seem to get the value of the cards in general is based on how useful they are in play, and if there aren’t local stores where the play starts, find of opening packs goes down, the value of the boxes go down, and the whole thing, that has stayed alive through careful stewardship for the last 25 years risks finally turning into beanie babies.
Arena could have been done as a collaboration with the local stores and paper magic Instead of being an active threat to us Pokémon I’ve been doing digital packs in there paper packs for years, and that was even a paper card game recently that had the ability to scan the cards directly. Investing a lot of money in digital magic, makes for coming out and doing that same kind of investment to start playing standard, etc. a big barrier.
Perfect example of this tone deaf response was the D&D essentials tool kit which came with a coupon for half off a digital version of the Players Handbook. The right way to do that would be to either include a digital version with a paper version for a discount from one to the other so that people are not forced to buy the same thing twice, and have incentive not to buy from the stores.
Wizards does does not have to lose anything by creating a more collaborative environment with the small stores, In fact will create a mutual path to greater long-term good. But the ex-Microsoft folks have to change from how much did I make this quarter in bonuses, to not chopping off the wings of the Golden goose.
(I do understand The Microsoft mindset. I spent some time there as part of my dark and distant past.)
So some cursory research shows that in all of the Boston metro area, likely all of Massachusetts, and possibly all of New England there is only ONE Premium store, which is completely absurd. If you're in VT, NH, or ME, you'd have to drive for hours to get to one. In RI you might be closer to the one in CT. Does Premium status require a blood sacrifice or something?
Wow just one? That's nuts I would've thought one would be in RI or CT
Wait, what's the premium store in MA?
I live in western Mass so yeah it's a pain 🙄
I've talked with my lgs owner, the standards are absurd. It's a lot about spending ridiculous amounts of money on appearance things like tables and chairs. Additionally WotC wanted to see his financials for the last couple years which he was not comfortable with
I looked up my local area, and the two stores that have Premium are relatively new outfits - shops that have been around for decades don't have it. So, I looked up the "quality checklist", and I think WotC intentionally targets new stores that go all-in on MTG. For instance - my FLGS, which proudly displays set boxes and posters going back years, would fall afoul of the Premium requirement that Magic marketing materials must all be from the last 12 months. Reading the rest, to my eyes WotC treats Premium as "you're running a MTG store, not a gaming store" - almost like a franchise, except without most of the benefits.
Very cool to see Black Diamond Games mentioned on this channel. Caught me by surprise this morning. It’s a store I go to, and honestly didn’t know there were premium stores.
My personal dud of the year was replacing draft packs with set boosters as prerelease prizes.
I'd much rather have the set boosters. Too bad my LGSs aren't doing that.
Isn't that a strict upgrade?
@@SonnigesDeutschland not if you want to draft with them
One of my favourite stores in the Bay Area is Cards & Comics Central. That’s where I learned, grew up, I spent the majority of my childhood jamming games and cracking packs there. It has some of my fondest memories. It’s in the inner Richmond on the city of San Francisco. If you’re near, I highly recommend!
I want wizards to reconsider how stingy they are on Arena. I used to spend about $20 a month on the game, mainly to draft, but I started to realize how bad the payouts were, how punishing losing was, and how many amazing indie games I could buy with the same money. So, for the last year, I haven’t spent a dime. I still play multiple hours a week, but I just mindlessly grind the one or two decks I can afford to complete quests and save up to do a quick draft once every couple of weeks. And sometimes, when grinding historic feels crappy or frustrating, I delete the app entirely and ignore it for a week or two. Definitely not what I hoped for a modern magic video game and hopefully not what Wizards intended either. Bummer.
They put to much emphasis on winning. Instead of playing for enjoyment instead if you lose it feels like an absolute waste of time. They should change the weekly goals from strictly winning to just be playing games in general and having fun.
This is what I used to do in hopes of getting all the cards unlocked but every time I could take my gold and make it into gems for a draft and then not be able to make a good deck I truly was sad that I was so bad but as time went on my goal slowly became unattainable so I dropped MTGA now im buying singles from my lgs playing comander and if there is a set that captivates me I spend the money on the pre release kit and play some sealed( still bad at it but hoping to get better the more I play) I realized that all the love I have for mtg is not simply rooted in the mechanics of the game but rather the social time I get to spend with other individuals who also enjoy the game I enjoy seeing store owners have a full house and truly see the fruition of all there hard work it's the people that make this game so special mtga I slowly realized is none of those things and it's a sad realization too
Thank you Professor for mentioning and supporting the LGSs in the Bay Area. I help organize MTG events at Magic the Gathering at The Game Parlour SF and we've had a few new customers stop by thanks to this video. This was a gift.
Modern horizons 2 reprinting of half the fetchlands, absolutely got me buying set booster boxes. Even at 220 a box i was still able to consistently sell singles and grab more boxes.
That being said, as i was enjoying that set and budgeting to buy more of it, i saw afr on shelves, like 8 new precon commander decks, unreasonable amounts of secret lairs, innistrad october and innistrad december. OVERLOAD !
I've played magic for over 25 years, and I have a lot of opinions. Instead, I'll say that I do miss organized play. Even before that, I miss Wizards' coverage of events. Magic content is so fragmented and hard to find. I only just recently found this channel! Always a good watch.
That the continuing issue of print quality didn't make the list feels like a bad sign. Also says a lot when the dismantling of organized play and the mess that is LGS support are only at 4 and 5.
Appreciate leading off with the game store issue, Prof. Mine ended up dropping support for draft because of 2021's product availability issues and I miss it / the people I knew there.
On the topic of the handling of competitive play, don’t forget the “OP will not be explicitly designed to support competitive Magic as a career path” tweet that’s basically WotC admitting they hate pro players. I don't think they've ever said anything with remotely as much contempt for their core audience as that.
Also, I think there’s two other things that should’ve been on here:
1. Modern Horizons 2. They’ve basically turned Modern into a rotating format. Go look at the Modern meta on Goldfish, 3 of the top 10 most played cards in the format are from MH2. Hell, 7(!!!) of the top 10 creatures played are MH2.
2. Universes Beyond. I know the shock of the Walking Dead was last year, but they announced Universes Beyond this year. They just keep grinding the game down into a gray slop Brand™ and we all hate it.
I went to Versus Games for the War of The Spark prerelease when I was out in San Fran for work! It was an unforgettable experience and the staff there were so awesome!
What tool/website did the professor use to see which stores were premium/not? Wanted to check which stores around me were premium. Good video as well prof, keep it up!
Always cool to have your local scene name dropped. Versus Games is the heart of SF magic on the south end of the city
In Arena, further thought being put into the deck weight system would be better. I am very tired of mirror matches when I play unranked games. Putting in some modes, puzzles, or challenges from the old Duels of the Planeswalkers games would be nice as well.
Eudo closing hit hard, it was my first game store that I ever went to and I remember going out of my way sometimes just to visit. To know it no longer exists hurts a little bit.
Honestly, I’d count Arena’s decline as a “best thing”. Arena’s gotten so bad that I finally gave up, deleted it and now only play Magic in-person at my LGS. If Arena was good, I’d be more inclined to play that and miss out on the positive social experience of sitting across from a real person, playing actual cards.
People never even wanted to play Magic digitally online in the first place.
Yeah, the human interaction aspect had always been a massive part of what makes tabletop gaming special to a lot of people.
@championchap that’s what I used to say as well, until everyone proved how wrong I am. And I’m not saying about what Arena did wrong either, people have been saying this paper-Magic-forever thing long before Arena even existed.
I used to say how Magic would benefit so much if they had an online client just like Hearthstone is, with their own event and economy system, they would stand to make so much more money like that, and whether the players like it or not, they will spend their money into it. And then I realized no one even wants to play Magic that way, paper is still the way to go for Magic, always has been and always will be.
I think there’s a home for digital Magic, if done right. Something that would allow people to easily try out decks before committing to buying one in paper. Something for those who don’t have a nearby LGS or a play group. And I think high-level pro Magic should all be digital to prevent cheating. But it should be supplementary to paper, not the primary focus.
@@Scantronimus466 I agree with you on your points. I don't have anything nearby me anymore but I also don't really get as much free time (not to mention most of my collection was stolen years ago...RIP) but me and a couple buddies still try to get together and play a bit and reminisce at least.
Hey, I hadnt watched one of your videos in forever and just happened to move to the bay area from the middle of nowhere, thanks for the recs! Checking some of those stores out.
I didnt even know about those dnd promos or that day before this video. Really wish they support beyond the premiums for that day. Maybe just offer specific extra promos for those stores but offer a wide variety to all as well.
Hi Prof! I just finished watching this video, and as always it was excellent! Your opening bit about WPN status and how difficult it is for small shops to get it hits so so close to home. I work at an LGS in Philly and we've been trying hard to meet all the requirements to get that designation.
I appreciate how much emphasis you put on the importance of local game shops (& the vibe of the channel in general)!
You probably won't see this, but thank you so much for what you and your team do!
the best thing this year for me was modern horizons 2. the worst thing for me this year was also definitely modern horizons 2
why?
I hate that damn monkey!
@@soarel325 the monkey would be fine if he wasn't a mythic rare! Like I don't knock my friends who can afford their monkeys but good lord, that set with its overpriced elementals, the monkey, and completely rotating old archetypes...
Like I loved drafting it and playing the new cards I got, but in the 3 draft boxes I got, I only got 2 fetchlands and 1 darci. Almost nothing else of value.
I'm so glad I found this channel. I used to play mtg but I was a kid. Long story short I gave all my cards away. Now I'm 32 and all I have left is magic arena. I know the community hates it but I love it. I haven't gotten past being able to wildcard trade for my old cards. I know its not perfect or anywhere close but I'm just so excited to be playing again. Anyways this channel has helped me crash course back into mtg. Looking for friends to play arena with. Hmu for my UN
When did you start playing that you're able to get your old cards on Magic Arena? Most of the cards from the early to mid 2000's aren't available on Arena yet unless they got reprinted within the past couple years of sets.
Yep. That’s weird. Game Parlour is great but only a few years old (and has less robust MTG event schedules) compared to many of the others in the Bay Area.
Great video - lots of valid points made. Would love to see a "best things that happened" video as well. Positivity is a great thing for the community!
P.S. "Why was Chandra at the vampire wedding?"... Exactly! They need to focus on the lore of the game a bit more with things like booklets or flavor text that explains everything better.
I can't help but feel like MTG is going through the same decline that occurred with WoW. I wonder if there's a point of critical mass for games before companies lose sight of quality in favor of quantity.
My hypothesis is it's when it's sold to a company whose only priority is profit.
It’s what happens when a niche becomes increasingly mainstream. Magic of ten years ago wouldn’t be doing crossovers with random IPs and Post Malone, the WoW comparison is pretty apt.
Don't forget WH 40k.....Games Workshop is doing the same as WotC and so much more
Another great video, thanks Prof! Your reviews are honest and needed. Keep up the great work!
USA: we only got a couple of premium stores in LA and stuff :^(
Rest of the World: You guys get premium stores?
I live out in Pennsylvania, there are a total of 4 WPN stores in the entire state. 1 located just outside of Pittsburgh, and 3 located just outside of Philadelphia. The closest one to me is a 4 hour drive. The amount of WPN stores needs to be increased especially with how many WPN specific events and products exist now.
I feel that wotc has done a lot to make the game more mass marketable, and less inclusive. A lot of the soul of MtG has been stripped out, for corporate greed.
Hasbro, WotC's parent company took a major ding due to NERF, one of their other major brands basically taking a TKO from another company which has released better AND cheaper products, along with the advent of 3D printed foam flinging blasters.
So instead, Hasbro is saying "forget this cow, lets milk all these other ones twice as hard!"
Hasbro is a toy company, and toys as a whole have been on a downward trajectory for a while. I'm not surprised they're looking to tabletop games (and related pursuits like online versions of them) as their new primary revenue stream.
Hearing you mention my old hometown of Pacifica reminded me of being a 8 year old going to the local comic/card shop to buy Pokemon and Magic boosters.
I dunno man, I used to love arena but these days I don't even feel like logging in to make a deck of 1 drops in any given color and throw games for daily challenges. Historic brawl was my jam until alchemy came out. No idea why they randomly banned a bunch of cards with zero announcement of doing so, unless that was a bug. I'm hanging up my arena towel for the foreseeable future.
I don't play too much competitive magic anymore (kids, covid, work, etc.) But I adore EDH. I always make a point to buy from my local game store, not just because of your videos, but I know the importance that they play in the community. Thank you for your candor and insights!
I’m over commander. Way too stale of a meta, too many shill content creators jacking up the price
Right before the pandemic happened, my local game store that I had visited since I started playing the game closed. Everybody who frequented there knew everyone's names and it was a very welcoming environment. Just last week I noticed that a new game store was opening just two doors down from where the old one had been. I don't know why anyone would open a new game store with a new Covid variant on the horizon but I do know I'll be supporting them as much as I can and will try to get all of my friends to do the same.
Completely agree with every single point here. Thank you for constantly being a voice advocating for the community, Prof!
Happy New Years, see you in 2022!
All local game stores are equal but some are more equal than others.
I live in the city that is considered the economic capital of my province and we only have 1 "premium" WPN store, and it's a store that my friend said he's had bad experiences at in the past too.
I “discovered” MTGO for the first time. Haven’t opened Arena since.
See you there! Been using it since 2003, and it had some shaky years early on, but it's great now.
You’ve forced me to confront my own responsibility for algorithmic choices preferring negative content: somehow I’ve been putting off your “Best Things” video but I clicked your “worst things” video as soon as it popped in my feed. Now I am off to watch your best things video twice to right this wrong! (But thanks as always for the video, and happy new year)
The death of the pro tour was largely the death of my interest in following magic releases. Still blows my mind that they canned it.
You're in the super minority when it comes to caring about pro magic. Literally nobody cares, the numbers speak for themselves.
@@fastydave The nature of this conversation invalidates your use of the word 'literally', but beyond that I'm curious what numbers you are appealing to. Was there a survey taken of some kind? Or are you just appealing the number of people still buy magic - which would be a pointless yardstick of determining whether there is an appetite to follow a pro scene.
Meanwhile we could look at the views for pro tour vods or streams, or the attendance at those events up until they stopped running them. We could also look at engagement with content creators, and what happened to their traffic before and after the death of the pro scene.
But regardless, it seems a weird flex to be compelled to tell me whether people beyond you and me agree with me or not, when I only spoke for myself in the first place.
@@euanmacleod3738 Pssst, you're a nobody :)
@@fastydave Ahh, so you were appealing to none of the people that you personally consider to qualify as 'a' somebody caring. Settled a lot of disputes with that mighty hammer, have you?
Meanwhile, I suppose I can rule out the majority of content creators or general influencers from the magic scene as people who you consider to be a somebody, given they all lament the death of the pro scene.
ive been on and off with MTG for a few years now, me and about 5 friend all bought starter decks and then slowly were pitching in to buy packs and craft decks to play with... most of us have moved away now and i have given them away to people in gamer community threads to help get more people into MTG or really any kinda card games honestly. thanks for all these videos ive learned much from you. we dont really have places that sell cards just your typical target and wal mart if they decide to stock them hardly and they ever do but ive found a vending machine at one of my grocery store that sells boosters newest are 5 and previous set is 4$ each pack, bought a few it was nice to go through them all read them and understand how important some are because of just listening to you throughout time. i wish i had the opprotunity to afford opening larger amounts and stream some of it too. i have terrible anxiety trying to talk to anyone or be around others but i want to be around people and trading cards kinda helped break a wall of comfortablilty and allowed me to bond with others while doing something that keeps me from getting panicky.
This sucks so much. I want so badly to love arena, to play it more, for it to be a great client that rivals other TCG's. WOTC keep shooting themselves in the foot and at this point It feels like I'm doing the same.
I have a few odd comments on Arena that I haven't see mentioned:
- Ability to easily sort decks by color, recent, or most played--ascending and descending in BOTH the decks main page and when selecting a deck after choosing game mode.
- totally revising the deck builder UI...at the very least having a "+" and "-" sign beside the cards in the list and having nothing happening when clicking on the bar for the card name.
- Having a best-of-1 option that has the same legal cards as best of 3 (not those "arena core cards" or w/e)
- when selecting a play mode, maybe having the last 3 played decks on the bottom right corner, not just the currently selected/last played deck
- dedicated historic pauper format
-Maybe some random stats generated like win ratio of each deck, most casted cards (for you and for entire arena community), your most played color, etc.
Prof, serous question following... I would like to support my LGS's but I feel like I'm being ripped off sometimes. I can get booster boxes at release for 95 or 100 shipped from several different sellers online, but my LGS's want around 120 or more for a box at the counter. At what point am I being a little jipped by my LGS and at what point should players start to consider online sellers if their LGS is clearly charging too much?
Amazon may live on without you buying a booster box, but for a LGS it really can make a difference and help them thrive. If you think your LGS is being dishonest with you, yeah, go somewhere else. But if they are kind and nice but the prices are high, it is maybe because they really need them that way.
Honestly if you want just boxes go online but. Do prioritize singles at your lgs and if you go in make sure to buy som snacks or packs to support them. When I go in for commander with friends I I end up spending anywhere from $25-75.
Your LGS likely has more costs associated with their business: labor, utilities, taxes, etc. Where as online stores have a much lower overhead and this can charge less. So Sure you can buy it online for less but the idea is to support the store that employees the community around you, who services events, and provides a place for your local gaming community.
It's your choice if you want to or even are able to support that.
Regardless 120 for a box seems pretty standard at an LGS, I don't think it's a jip or rip off.
I'm from the san fran bay area too, but lived further up north for a long time. The ONE game store we had while I lived there shut down in about 2005, with the owners denoting a lot of the same issues THEN as we're seeing more regularly NOW - lack of mothership support.
RIP Neal's Enterprises, you were where I started really playing and I miss y'all.
I was still very interested in Magic Cards this year but all the Product, MDFCs, and Showcase Treatments has me buying less than ever. I’m happy about it too! Still love the game and all the extra noise has actually made it easier for me to tune out the stuff that doesn’t interest me.
I always had a tough time just deciding which cards or sets I wanted to buy into. Now there's quadruple options for each one and I just can't.
used to go to black diamond games every Wednesday for pokemon when i was a kid. amazing community. Havent been there for any magic events but id imagine the community is just as good. Great video, Hopefully ill see you there.
Every single year since the creation of their channels, the best things about MTG annually is Vince and Prof. Closely followed by legends of the game like LSV, Ben Stark & PVD Da Rosa No questions about it. There's my top 5. For this year and next.
Vince is everything people accuse the Professor of being.
Love Anime Imports and Games of Berkeley. Awesome to see you included Mike in the video! 😊
#1 for me Midnight Hunt and Time Spiral re-mastered impossible to find.
@@justinclement5417 Seto Kaiba does not buy from those sites. Considering he can just buy the sites.
Midnight hunt is still all over Walmarts where I live. Didn’t know that was even an issue. I wish I could still find MH2.
@@joe.5103 so much Midnight Hunt at my local big box stores and LGSes. Seems nobody wants it. But, agreed about MH2 such a great set
@@joe.5103 I meant Midnight Hunt as a set oof my bad happens when I don't have coffee :P
@@heirkaiba ahh gotcha!
I think the main reason magic the gathering was so chaotic in 2020 is because arena was new, the pandemic forced everyone to stay indoors or at least not play magic with strangers in person, and magic was not prepared for people playing so much that flaws that normally would be missed were revealed from all the stats gained from the digital game.
When I started to play magic, it was thanks to Magic arena, it seemed to me like a publicity tool to show you the mechanics of mtg and incentive the player to buy physical pieces of the game. It was cool that you could try cards that seemed to be great in arena before actually buying them in your LGS. Now it is literally another product of WoTC, f2p players can't keep up with so many new rares and mythics. The feeling goes further with the addition of Alchemy in historic and brawl. I don't feel like it is worth the time to try and keep playing when your 4 copies of any rare or mythic get an errata without giving you wildcards in compensation.
South bay has Game Kastle. A strong presence, and great at providing play space. Glad to know the bay area was an old stomping ground, Professor!
Really thought MH2 was going to be on both lists. Really the fetch lands reprint should have been alone in the best-of list, and MH2 should have been here. I was so excited to go back to my LGS, but quit after weeks of Ragavan piles. Saffron Olive hit the nail on the head that power level isn't the problem; it's the individual snowball cards that win the game on their own. It's just boring.
Hey! Fun to see one of my favorite content creators, @Projared, at 8:27!
I just wanted Arena to be a tool to build my decks for testing, so I can build their counterparts in paper. It did not really work that well to start with, but alchemy made it almost impossible, to get a representation of my paper play.
Now I just hope Magic Online will be released for Mac soon.