Dev is mad.
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sbmtgdev
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SBMTG
Gameplay – Jetmir Tokens in Post-Hook DMU Standard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKfslkjq6Zk
Building an Old-School Cube to Restore My Faith in Magic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNWCMTGmjKQ&t=587s
#mtg #WOTC
Strictly Better Mtg is a Magic: the Gathering Channel that does videos on everything Magic the Gathering. We do Mtg Deck Techs, Mtg set reviews, Mtg spoilers, mtg news, mtg speculation, mtg top 10 lists, and much, much more mtg related ish!
Category
Gaming
44 Comments
I see the weirdos are already in full force down here
played mtg from the dark onwards.. dread to think what i've spent over the years, too much though for sure (though next to nothing compared to some i guess)….not bought paper cards since the arena beta….spent $5 on the entry deal when arena went properly live….had a mastery pass ever since and not spent a single $ since…i never buy cosmetics with my gold, seldom even packs, just draft to get gems with my gold 😉 quite happy to play for free, usually make diamond or mythic playing ranked standard and ranked historic despite not spending any money 🙂 screw wizards, their greed has got way out of hand, and they have always been greedy…play for free, enjoy the game, spend your $ on something real and worth while
i agree 100% i used to love this game and its turned to me to utterly hate this game more than any other tcg out now. And i hear ppl say the exact thing time and time and saying it's not wizards it's Hasbro and i disagree i think its 100% Wizards and only Wizards trying to impress and do whatever it takes to look like a golden child to Hasbro. Every single thing that has hurt the game has been Wizards choice.
You arent spending money to get the cards… You are spending money so that other people wont have the cards. MTG would suck if everyone had access to every card and every variation. Like… If Black Lotus and Time Walk were free, EVERY deck would have them… and the game would suck…. but… if you actually forked out the money to get those powerful cards, you have paid money to have cards (power) that your opponents probably wont have. The same idea applies to pretty lands. Those pretty lands are only going to feel cool if other players dont have them.
Trusts and Estates profit margin is deceptive. The reason it is so high is because you have a life time of liability for each "contract" you write up… so perfection is VERY important. One mistake, and you could be taken for everything you have from something you wrote 30 years ago…
This is why I never got into Arena. Maybe I'm an old man, but I trust physical cards so much more.
When the shit hits the fan, neither matter. But when the dust settles I'll have actual cards.
Preach Dev. You speak the truth and the worst thing is that it applies to the bigger picture too beyond just games.
I don't see these prices as predatory, but I do find the 30th edition as highly, extremely predatory. I think it is worth differentiating because we don't want to use the term lightly and undermine it's seriousness. The 30th edition is predatory because it at very least exposes vulnerable people to making extremely poor financial decisions which will materially impact on them and their families. Because of the way that we process chance events and probability, this will happen. These lands etc might be very, very poor value but they aren't exploiting our weaknesses in the same way and don't have the same scope to cause major financial distress.
Literally last week Nvidia, a company that makes Hasbro look like a startup, backed down on something partially in response to public sentiment.
I stopped playing phyiscal magic when I got kids and didnt have the time/energy.
But Arena was great. For about 2 years. But I stopped playing because of their idiotic way to match make.
"Oh. You wanna play woth this jank deck with 25 wins out of 100 games. Well we KNOW how powerful it is because its filled with rares, so here is your mythic ranked opponent with his meta deck."
"Dude. The rares are almost all lands to try to get this pile of junk to work…"
Or just get constant mirror matches.
Like. Dude. Just let me play against someone with the same ELO atleast.
Anyways.
I stopped because of that.
But their greedy buisness structure makes me not want to pick rhe game up again. And with their goal to double the sales again? This shit wont stop.
I might buy singles to make a commander deck Ive been eyeing. But thats it.
Amen
well said boss. this is the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i dont play anymore.
the game is selling out.
sell your cards ASAP
I agree and WOTC don’t care
The only cosmetic I want are the Mirage lands, but I guess they'll never come out. And if they do, everybody will play them…
WotC has to fleece their customers how else will their employees stay warm this winter.
Anything that diminishes the mystique or "coolness" of the power 9 in any capacity directly damages Magic the brand and value and therefore anyone that truly loves Magic is now inescapably disgusted and appalled at such a obvious cash grab
Everyday, i log into this game and be like why do i keep playing this game
Hey Dev, even if you wanted to buy Magic 30, could you get it? Like how many people couldn't get 40K bling versions? Is this another Mythic Edition (remember those turd nuggets)?
there's a concept in economics called elasticity. in this case, price – demand elasticity is what's important. the money in on a product is the number of people buying it * the cost and n is a function of asking price p = n(c) * c, in simple terms. n is not necessarily linear (halving the price doubles the demand) and i'd expect it's something logarithmic or polynomial. there are people that would buy the 30th anniversary if it was $1m (posty / alpha) but that doesn't necessarily mean that the return in is maximised. the economists' jobs are to figure out how to maximise return, i.e. figure out the highest price the most people will pay. it's nowhere near as basic as dev makes out.
Thank you for this. And thank you for not playing standard during the video. Yuck. Would have made it so hard to watch.
I hate how I can only catch you during spoiler season.
I tried to get back into magic through Arena, but they really cranked the cost way too much for me to keep up.
i am no whale by any means but i can certainly afford to buy several 30th packs with out hurting my bank account a bit. I would not touch the 30th packs for anything. the entire product is an insult to the community.
I stopped playing Arena over one year ago. I like having drafts and playing Commander with my family and friends. The 30th Anniversary set is ridiculous. With TAX, a box of 4 packs is around $1,100.00 and packs will be $275.00 for PROXIES. I know this set will sell out and it will create a secondary market. You would need to spend thousands of dollars to get the cards you want. I would rather buy old cards. I could care less about the30th Anniversary set. I buy my proxies online for $3.50 to $5.99. Hasbro has forced too many expensive products down our throat so fast. I now just pick and choose what I buy. I will not waste my money on Unfinity as well. The stickers is for five year olds and can damage the cards. Hasbro is a business and they do not care about LGS and Magic players. It's all about the profits for the shareholders.
Magic players are dumber than a box of rocks regarding impulse control. If wizards made a gilded shit but said it was commander legal people would buy it
My guess on 40K sleeves is they have to share the profits with Games Workshop, so charging cash is the more straightforward way to go.
We get amazing basics with every set now. The Unfinity lands are fine but not worth money, especially for digital copies you can't ever sell or trade.
No lies detected, Dev.
Amazing commentary. Pure passion ! ❤
Idk why, but the Sol Ring pet being almost 20 dollars makes me intensely angry every time I see it.
I was there for this and I'm 100% for it. The Arena economy is ridiculous
A lot of people shit on people about the 30th edition but honestly those 4 packs probably cost less than the landbase for an arena standard deck.
MtGA sleeves are the absolute worst digital product Ive ever seen. You are literally buying them for other people to see.
“Complaining super hella does work” someone you should not consult. For anything.
"I do actually understand, that's exactly how Capitalism works. IT'S BAD" Based.
Dude let's play warhammer 40k together
Also, don't forget that their most profitable years this past decade have been during the pandemic that they claim has affected them with inflation. Yknow, so they can charge more for packs and digital air. Oh, and don't forget the $1000 proxies!
I finally uninstalled Arena and deleted it off of my phone a few days after dom release, and have been surprised how much farther my money goes. In Torchlight, a new mobile ARPG, I can get a battle pass and premium cosmetics for $20. I can’t get one of those on MTGA for that price, and that’s on top of the fact you have to pay them to play the game (more time than reasonable, or actual money)
Mythgard is having a big re-release next year with a full dev team so I’ve been playing that again for mobile TCG fix. Really think MTG finally starts to shrink rather than grow YoY
ITS BAD
You talked about the types of magic players. This is just the tactic to get the people who love the art. Don't forget about other predatory tactics such as the creation of a format that is 70% mythic and rare cards (Alchemy). Oh, and them mythic and rare cards are so overpowered, you have to have them just to be able to be competitive. But it's okay, you don't have to play that format, right? Nope, we've put all them overpowered cards into an existing format (Historic) so screw you person who didn't want to play with them, you're going to face decks that use them now. Oh and btw, them cards you spent your money on packs for, and super valuable wildcards to craft, we can edit them at anytime and you won't get any wildcards as compensation. Then we have their 'bans'. How can we fix mono black in the current standard rotation? Ban Sheoldred (An alchemy level power card)? Ban Invoke Despair? Ban tenactious underdog? Nope, they're from the newer sets in standard, lets hit meathook massacre, since it's been messing with our beloved aggro timmy decks and timmy players spend more money. (As a note, Mono black is my go to colour for ranked play, and the meathook nerf has barely impacted my games).
WotC is in this for the money. I wish they could get people on board who are in it for the cards and the love of playing magic.
Truth!!! I like collecting some special versions of cards, but holy crap why do we have to go through so much for something they have an endless supply of with the digital econ
You spoke directly to my stomach, or my soul…..I think my stomach directs more of my life choices
You speak of market forces, but we miss something very important here: competitors. And I don't talk about some other company that makes their own trading card game, I'm talking about a competitor who also prints magic cards… If you want to revolt against Wizards you shouldn't do that by waving banners and marching through the streets, but by printing proxies, playing proxies, and replacing all original Magic products in the shelf of your LGS with proxy products.
i can rant about this shit for hours