http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/metamorphosis-2-0-2017-06-12
So WotC is backing up that bus and making a ton of changes moving forward. Looks like the 2 set blocks failed, and are more than happy to try and make it right.
The Skinny
- 1 set blocks with 250+ cards per set
- Core sets are back
- Masterpieces are not going to be in every set
- Still going to get 4 sets a year
My budget is happy, but let me explain.
Expansions
So we are going to 3 expansion releases within a year, and the summer set is again going to be the core set. Now, each expansion is going to be a large set (+250 cards) so that is going to suck a bit, just cause I used to have to open 8 booster boxes, and 3 fat packs to have around $200 of missing cards. Most of those cards would be the Mythics, so in reality I was just opening more product to get a hand full more mythics and a ton more rares for trading fodder.
The small sets were nice, because I was not struggling to get full playsets of those rares, and I was getting a ton more fodder. But with all that fodder I was ending up with a lot of bulk and it was filling up my storage area much faster.
Since then I have moved to the new budget of only picking up 6 booster boxes and 4 bundles. This pared down the bulk that I was collecting on new product, and opened up some budget to pick up some cards that were not sealed. I would then wait until rotation to pick up the outstanding cards needed for my playsets. Now, this only really impacts me on expansions because I no longer have the catch-up time with the small sets and I need to figure in the required cards needed after rotation, and with all the sets being large sets I am going to need a lot more capital after they rotate out.
Core
And now we have Core sets back. 50% being new cards while the other 50% are going to be reprints. I still enjoy the core sets, but with this announcement I think I am going to be going the way of Conspiracy and Commander when collecting. I will be going for a single card of the reprint and trying for a playset of the new cards. This will cut down a lot of what I need to pick up for sealed, and will open up some budget for singles. The only reason I am doing this, and should have done this with previous core sets, is I am sitting on a ton of reprinted cards. I could have used that money on reserve list cards, or trying to fill out playsets of the really old sets where I only have a single set.
Masterpieces
Thank fucking god! Now we get to the good part. My budget opens up a ton with this requirement gone. I am basically taking a $6000.00 line item and putting that towards sealed product. It was close to $2000.00 per set to pick up all the Masterpieces on release day. The low point for the set prices usually hit around the next released set, and prices were closer to $1400.00 per set.
Now, I did not really put $6000.00 in the budget to pick up all the Masterpieces within the time that the sets were in Standard, but I did pick up cards here and there to fill out my needs. With that requirement now gone, I can plan a more balanced approach to picking up what I need, and go back to the way I used to buy cards. But along those lines, I really like not picking up all that bulk and being more selective with my purchases, and it really opens up a lot of cash for speculation based on card quality within the game.
4 Sets a year
I really like this, and in earlier blogs I thought it was crazy to hit 4 expansion sets along with a core set. But with the 3 expansion sets and a core, like they used to have, I think it is going to make things interesting. I just felt like they were trying to cram way too much within a year, and now with this change I really think they are trying to slow down a bit.
With them opening up the set releases based on the content, I think they have opened up a whole new way to release the sets. They can do content in a single set, head over to another plane and then come back to the previous plane right away. They are not stuck trying to get all the content into that block release, and it frees up the story a lot more. They might also be killing the "Return" blocks, which I think is a really good thing. It seems like the compartmentalization of the blocks is going away, and it is becoming more chapter based stories.
Rather than a block being a single book, with a single story line, they are going back to the Weatherlight days, and continuing the story throughout. I really think that this will allow them to bring up a set here and there to make the whole story more rich in a sense of mystery. Like each set is a chapter, and sometimes a chapter will be so off topic if you follow the story in chronological order, but in the whole it makes sense.
Like The Phyrexian story from Dominaria, tying in with Mirrodin, and the Brother's War. Now instead of forced to stay within a block for all that content, WotC is more free to expand into multiple different plot lines. It is further from a comic book plot line, but has the taste of a good story line as a whole. In one season we could be battling the Phyrexians, and the next season we could getting an update as to how Emrakul is holding up, and then swing by Theros to check up on Elspeth. This could happen within the same year. Way back it was only one plot line the whole year, and then they slimed it down to 2 plot lines within a year, and now it is just open based on the content. The wonderful thing about it is the content will be able to take us where we want to go, and it is not constrained by a "Needed" structure of the game. Much more D&D based storylines.
Budget
So what do I think now. Well with this whole exercise of the new budget because of the baby, I still like not picking up so much bulk, but it would be nicer to pick up a little more. I am still going through my spreadsheets to see what that might be. Then again, it might be nice to just pick up a box to open for the fun of it after release. But then there's that whole regret after pulling a bad box and wishing I just paid for the singles.
I really like not having to try and budget for those Masterpieces, but still realize that I need to save up for when they do release them. Like with the Expeditions, it was great. I could just get my full set and be happy with it. But when they announced that I would be getting Masterpiece cards for EACH set, I puked. This opens it up to many possibilities. I can save up for the special occasion, but at the same time pick up a little more of what I like.
So along those lines, my yearly budget just opened up a bunch. I keep trying to fit in the changes to the current budget based on these changes, but I am just speeding through it to get something out. So for now, I am just going to post this with an updated budget blog coming soon. That leaves an updated budget, Cardsphere, and Lodestone Coffee & Games blog I need to get out within the next weeks.
There sure is a lot changing coming, let's see if I can keep on track with all this.
No comments:
Post a Comment