Thank you Helix Sleep for sponsoring! Helix’s End of Year Sale is running now for a limited time- Visit helixsleep.com/tolarian to get 25% off your mattress (plus two FREE pillows) and receive a Free Bedding Bundle with your Luxe or Elite order. Offers subject to change. #helixsleep
I would do more research into your sponsors. Helix's website is possibly the most invasive website I have ever seen. Need to enter personal information before you can see any pricing or products at all. its genuinely a terrible shopping experience, and I say this as someone who is actively searching for a new mattress.
I’m still completely under the impression that if MKM took place in New Capenna, it would’ve been drastically better. That setting would’ve been perfect for a murder mystery like MKM was.
Not sure about that. The whole deal about New Capenna is that there is no law enforcement. Gangster detectives wouldn't have had the same pop culture resonance.
I would like to humbly remind you that even this year, Wizzards ended printing in Portuguese, which affected many of us Brazilians. The teaching of the English language is not as vast in our country, and having Magic available in our native language was a great help for new players, who unfortunately, after the announcement, began to decline.
While I agree that not having Brazilian Portuguese cards will hinder our ability to teach the game properly and to attract new players (and make non-English speakers more at ease with the game), it is nonetheless a blessing in disguise. The amount of egregious translation errors, some of them altering the very mechanics of the cards, was absolutely unacceptable. So, at least now we may buy cards that say what they mean, and not error-ridden, useless game pieces.
@@msarsur You're being too optmistic. It is not even close to a good tradeoff. It is a terrible one. Looks closer to a monkey's paw wish, if I may add... "Please, no more translation errors to mtg portuguese!" "Granted."
"Why is every set a dressup set now?" Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. There's a MaRo article where he touches on it. Neon Dynasty leaned in to anime tropes and japanese pop culture, and was a grand slam. The most popular set of its year and, I think, one of the best selling standard sets ever. So they've been trying to do it again. Except the tropes of Neon Dynasty were only part of what made the set popular. It was a return to a fondly remembered plane, had a pretty good limited environment and impact on formats. It was also, importanty, the first time in a long time Magic was so obviously referencing outside material. It's like that old Rystic Studies quote: "It's fine to pay homage to the artists that inspired you, but do it too much and you risk become a cover act."
Honestly in no small part it’s a lack of novelty due to the deluge of UB and similar strategy. Also let’s not forget how many parody cards they have, like shoot the sheriff or paranormal analyst. It isn’t that they made sets inspired by out-of-game places and themes (like theros), it’s that that is ALL they’ve been doing this year and have too many “joke” cards that break what little immersion is left.
I loved Neo Kamigawa *despite* the anime bullshit. I love Cyberpunk, I love OG Kamigawa, it was supposed to be that combined. Not anime anime anime anime anime anime, and more anime. I guess I’m old now.
Good bright side. Much like how most new Marvel and DC Comics have been terrible, I have cause to go back to older comics and check out the ones I missed somehow, I can also do the same for Magic.
@@ryanbarrett5355 Yep, I've already started building Ravnica Guild Decks for Commander with as many cards from Ravnica as possible, and now is the perfect opportunity to complete this project.
Hey @TolarianCommunityCollege i appreciate the list, but i feel t here is one omission. The Reducing of printed languages for MTG. For example, going forward there will be no Brazilian Portuguese cards. Although in the large scheme of things this might sound minor, i feel it should get at least a mention. Scaling back on card languages avaliable, will only serve to shrink the potential market for new players, which, creates a choke point of value, which could echo into worst decisions to compensate for financial loss across the entire game of MTG. Plus, it was a slap in the face of fans in non us speaking regions too.
I would argue the commander bans topped it handedly. At least the pinkerton debacle was typical corporate shenanigans. The commander bans was the MTGs communities own ugly head rearing itself
@@TheAverageGuyTAG The set's theme is so non-congruent with Ravnica that everyone instinctively replaces Karlov with Markov and assumes it must be an Innistrad set.
imo thats a cop-out. It's "just a card game" that is nearing a billion dollar revenue stream, with millions of players around the world, going on thirty years. The Prof himself has made a living out of "just a card game".
@@spencerbell8386yeah, agreed. Additionally, if you're going to say fuck, then say fuck. The bleep killed it. Prof could have at least made a point by saying the word and not censoring it. He may as well have not said it at all. It fell totally flat on me and it felt scripted and forced.
@@spencerbell8386yeah and Prof didn't send death threats over expensive card board. The value doesn't take away from the fact that people acted like that over CARDBOARD
That War of the Spark trailer is just so freakin' powerful. I've shown it to friends who know zero or only the barest details about Magic and it gets them hype. The music, the atmosphere and the instant connections you can make. Shame that Wizards never seemed able to top it since, even with their excellent Eldraine and Kamigawa trailers.
I have to post it. My gf came down for breakfast just as prof was saying number 1 biggest problem. She doesnt play at all, and I paused before Prof started and asked her what it was. She said, "Spiderman?"
I often have to remind myself that the old rc members were normal people that weren't used to being threatened and doxed. Once I take that into account, I understand why they gave up control.
I am still ashamed of anyone who hassled the RC. What pieces of shit, actually. They loved this game, they nurtured and curated this game we also love, and then you all yelled at and threatened them. Shame on everyone who did that, you know who you are. Enjoy freaking WOTC’s stewardship; i’m sure they’ll do just *great*.
Anyone else feels that the whole harás harassment campaing may have been partly a false flag by WOTC employees pretending to be community members to try a successful coup of the RC??
Yeah, I'm not sure why they're so terrified of "promissory estoppel", or whatever the technical legal term is. I have to imagine the money they'd make on Legacy Masters would more than make up for whatever they have to spend on lawsuits.
Watch them print a set where it's all Reserve List lookalikes that are functionally the same, but either cost 1 extra mana or have some number on them knocked down by 1. "Blackish Lotus" (0 cost; 2 free mana) "Wheel of Good Luck" (4 cost; draw 6) "Phyrexian Dreadship" (2 cost; 11 P/T) "Ancestral Reminder" (draw 2) "Max's Sapphire, Ruby, etc." (1 drop mana rocks for 1 mana each) "Candlestick of Tawnos" (Pay X to untap X-1 lands) "Low-Power Artifact" (reduces activation by 1) Or just reprint the entire Reserved list as an Un set where they're all acorn cards. Call it "Unreserved".
Wizard's argument for the confusion of standard legality of UB products falls apart when they simultaneously created non legal FOUNDATIONS Jumpstart, the starter set product for new players.
Universes Beyond makes me so sad. I’ve been playing Magic literally my entire life - and now, after 25 years of playing, I’ve gotten completely and totally exhausted. I just can’t vibe with Sorin fighting Iron Man. I’m tired of the power creep. Tired of the inauthenticity. It just feels like one of the loves of my life has succumbed to share holder capitalism. Genuinely feel like I’ve lost one of my life passions. But I’m done.
I feel the exact same, been playing almost as long for most of my life. The bastardization of this game is nothing short of depressing to think about. But hey, it was just another chapter in my life coming to a close. I’ll never be in high school again, or the military. This is just another closing of a significant part of my life. But you and I got a lot to look forward to! Just be glad you got this truly once-in-forever experience and acknowledge life has many more experiences like this to offer.
UB frustration is understandable, and power creep has been too hot for that matter as well. I have similar frustrations. But what would you prefer, power creep and Ironman or the game discontinuation? The ‘capitalism’ mantra is more exhausting than UB. If they didn’t find a way to sell their product, the company would go under 🤷♂️ MKM was a giant flop, and it had UB vibes AND pushed cards. Imagine it didn’t have any power creep, and no sets after it had power creep-they would lose money, which simply is not s u s t a i n a b l e. Again, would you prefer the game die or power creep? Either way you be here complaining.
I sometimes think about coming back to Magic, but if I'm honest, the only sets I really liked where the Core sets. Just nice basic fantasy stuff, with a little Magic tint. No special set comes close that simple joy.
I think nadu should be #1 because of how bad the behind the scenes was for that card. It really revealed that WotC no longer cares about the quality of products they are releasing. We have the designer of the card sharing that the card was changes last minute to better facilitate commander in a product that had its own commander sets that it could have gone in instead. The card ended up being so miserable in commander it also got banned there anyway. We have the designer telling us they didn’t even understand that the ability triggered twice per turn *per creature* because the card had so little testing. And we have MaRo telling us that’s it’s unreasonable for WotC to consider some of the deep card pools of old formats like modern when designing a set for… *checks notes*… modern. I’m glad commander has been a successful format that so many people enjoy, and I’m glad WotC makes product for commander directly, but Nadu was the final nail in the coffin that shows WotC prioritizes commander to the detriment of all other ways you play magic, and does’t even do a good job at that.
lmfao "it’s unreasonable for WotC to consider some of the deep card pools of old formats like modern" and yet they sure are happy to Sell "Modern Horizons" sets
Nadu was also bad for the commander format, so frankly stop laying the blame on it. Nadu was bad because the design team was bad. I'm pretty sure that the design team would've changed it if the modern playtesters came back with the same feedback that the commander playtesters did. The fault was with the design team making last minute changes, when we have a _list_ of last minute changes that absolutely destroyed formats. But instead of listening to the articles that were written about these cards, that flat out said that changing last minute without playtesting was a mistake, they just powered through, changed it, and released without proper playtesting.
Nadu didn't make players like me avoid Modern, Universes Beyond did. Same for standard, I was pumped to start grinding for big events again, and when they told me I'd need pictures of spiderman, I told them where to cram them.
Magic has been "fast food quality" since pre-pandemic when they almost double the quantity of release per year. With some exceptions, but lot of sets that feels kind of rushed to me. Karlov Manor and Thunder Junction felt like they didn't cared.
I maybe looking too far ahead to next year, but i can't wait for Prof to mention how aetherdrift and 30 pack booster boxes are one of the worst things to happen to Magic. The cut down was meant to bring down the price of boxes, yet pre-orders are going for about $160 dollars right now.
Cutting down from 36 to 30 will absolutely make the list. Isn't it telling that a move like that which hasn't even happened yet has already incited much ire in the community?
Agreed. It was an obvious way to make more sales, and I hate it. Used to be 2 drafts per box. By selling 1.X, you're leveraging people's "value" judgement against them - "If I buy one box, I can do one draft. But if I buy 2 boxes, I can do 3 drafts!". It's the same theory microtransaction-based games use, trying to make you feel close to a big landmark or payoff so that you spend a little bit more than you otherwise would have. Speaking of which - does anyone know if there's a formal term for this yet? Given how ubiquitous it is, it seems like it should have one, but I didn't find anything while googling...
It’s 160 because they have t shown anything yet. 160 is like a 20% profit margin before shipping costs. Once spoilers are out boxes will be around 100-120
This video is basically a point by point dissertation about why I no longer spend money on Magic, and why I'm completely disengaged from the game, aside from hacking around in Brawl on Arena. Which is just glorified solitaire. The firehose of new sets, the extreme dissonance of shoehorning existing characters into sets like Clue and Thunder Junction, the ultra FOMO push, the dilution of Magic's IP with massive Universes Beyond inclusions. I'm just burnt out, which is sad, because I really love this game.
When's the last time someone cited MTG lore? UB is just different artwork and if it gets new people to play that's great! To me and others it's about the gameplay.
@@foreal7712 some people cared about the characters and the universe, shocking right? They may be a minority, but they exist, heck, I cared for a decade, but it's clear i'm not important for either the player base (hence your comment and many many more like that) or the company, Making half the products stuff that is simply, NOT Magic. So I simply quit the Game, as many has done in recent years
The Universes Beyond thing is insane. I’m a YuGiOh player, but got interested in Magic with the realease of Phyrexia All Will Be One. The art, the story, it seemed really interesting, so I got some cards and even some Secret Lairs on the aftermarket. Fast forward to seeing the craziness of Secret Lairs, the ever expanding dilution of the IP, and WotC’s indefensible monetization, and my enthusiasm was destroyed. Still have never actually played a game of Magic and those cards sit in a box.
@@houndoom73 Thanks, I appreciate it. Maybe one day I’ll pick it up, but it just seems like a constant cash grab at this point. Though there are legitimate gripes people have with Konami, I’m quite happy with the state of YuGiOh, so that’ll be my game of choice for the foreseeable future.
@@TheAmpharosFreak What are you’re thoughts about UB overall though? Do you like it’s huge presence in the game at this point or would you prefer it exist in its own sort of realm?
And #1 is why I am leaving the game. It was a hard and heartbreaking decision, but a necessary one. The direction the game is going is not something I want to be a part of.
I completely feel where you are coming from. I have my EDH decks I won't be altering. I have my set cubes and vintage cube I won't be adding to. And I am going to start exploring Sorcery: Contested Realm gameplay. I hope, though, MtG returns to its roots one day.
I am somewhat the same but I am not leaving the game completely. Instead, I have stopped playing Modern, cancelled my plan to start playing Standard and just stick to EDH where I am not forced to buy because of FOMO.
Right when Prof was about to reveal the #1 worst item, TH-cam decided it was the best time to show me a MTG Arena ad. Took me a moment to realize it wasn’t a part of the video.
worst thing in mtg continues to be the fact that sheldon's spellbook isn't an evergreen print-to-demand fundraiser product, removing any potential extortion on it by scalpers. gavin, baby, there's always still time, use your powers per il bene supremo❤❤❤
@@screwball69they’re almost exactly the same price now as they were to order. So so many got ordered. I ordered as many as it would let me without any intent to sell.
The complete lack of mention regarding the discontinuation of other language prints really, really bothers me. In countries where learning a different language, like English, is a significant challenge, this decision will gradually reduce the entry of new players from places like Brazil, Portugal, Russia, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Sure, MKM and AC were bad design products, but losing new players sounds far worse. South America has never had official access to Secret Lair... For f# sake, if it doesn't affect the northern hemisphere, it seems like it doesn't matter anyway.
I believe it was a financial decision. Largely people buy and/or desire english cards, even from the places you've mentioned. I know thats the case in eastern countries like Japan and the likes.
Karlov Manor made me angry in a way that magic rarely does. Ravnica is by a mile my favorite setting and the set this year clowned on all the rich and established history by putting detective hats on creatures. Uninspired, lazy, insulting and patronizing. Most newer sets are "hey, remember this thing that was popular 5 years ago? Let's cram that into some existing plane and then forget about it."
To be fair on the detective point, Argus Kos is/was an actual crime scene investigator in the Boros Legion. It's the one real flavor win in the wasteland of that set.
Prof, I enjoyed this year's Best Of video. I know it doesn't get nearly as much hype as the Worst Of, but 2024's Best Of was a great summary and breakdown of some great things that happened to this game. I first discovered your channel last year, and while I'm still learning all it has to offer, I appreciate all of the time and effort you dedicate to the M:tG community. Thank you, keep up the good work, and Happy New Year!
You’re right but come on. Three of them were the only good products this year. It was honestly depressing seeing a set that should be the standard make the top 5 and even mystery booster two had the caveat of “too bad most people couldn’t get it without buying the entire shabang”
Absolutely agree with #1. But I don't think they are able to deliver good in-universe sets anymore, not without kicking some dinosaurs from the product's lead. They have a terribly guided team now, and things like New Capenna, MKM, Halloween set and Cowboys set are here to show this. Like you said, they're doing character dress up more than any actual story/game development. FIRE design + greed + terrible company culture destroys the game more and more, so they're doing Disneyland sets now because they have no idea what else to do.
You name MKM, OTJ, Duskmourn (this set was a banger tho outside of the conflicted art direction, the story was very cool and it’s extremely fun to draft), and I point you Bloomburrow and Foundations They can make great sets, they have several design teams and they don’t all work on the same sets.
New Capenna was fine, imo. MKM, Thunder Junction and maybe Duskmourn are eh New Capenna, to me, didn’t feel like a complete rip off of common tropes. It had some variety to it-it just suffers from some of the slapstick card names and things like that, “sleep with the fishes”, etc
I've been playing since Beta, and was a guy who regularly bought multiple booster boxes with almost every release. The change to so much of Magic being UB has completely negated any desire for me to give WOTC any more of my $ - and I wasn't even opposed to UB, so long as they weren't forcing it to be a necessity. My wallet is thankful - it's so much easier to buy ink and card stock/foiling to proxy the cards I (or my friends, or literally anyone who I can save from this BS) want, and if I REALLY want a card, I'll trade from my current stock, or buy singles on the secondary market. At most, I'll stifle that urge to crack packs by playing limited, but....bad move overall, Wizards. Magic itself has such a strong culture and backstory this change does nothing to further. I know you're just a big corporation in a capitalist society, but here's hoping that the future sees enough failure on this premise to force a reversion. I'm not very hopeful - but stranger things have happened. 100% on point, Prof - stay amazing.
I greatly respect you for choosing to address what happened with the RC in a way that doesn't try to take away from how nasty the community response was. I feel like way too many people let their discontent with the ban cloud their judgment on just how awful that all was.
Yeah 5:00 just glad when I can disengage, like when someone gets rabid support for Luigi Mangione (even nintendo Luigi caps to ruin it) or whatever popular cause of the week that went too far. Sports fans can get crazy too, so it's not just video/card games or politics. But at least there are nice people to focus on after disengaging, let alone a world of value when something price drops.
Wasn't that awful on the internet scale. Didn't hear anyone actually showing up at their houses with firearms or throwing a brick through a window, was a lot of posturing.
@@MrVariant Money is a powerful motivator for crime and violence. Drug dealers do so for the money. Thieves do so for the money. Although its just game pieces, there is a market and they have monetary value.
I’m a relatively new player (just a year and a half) and very recently into the lore: let me tell you my jaw dropped when you said MKM took place on Ravnica. Instantly I was like “ok I get why people didn’t like it”. I know some Ravnica lore, I know some MKM cards, and not once did I ever pick up that it was on Ravnica.
A good tip for enjoying MTG lore is to read up until just before The War of the Spark and then come up with your own head canon for how it ends. The lore for War of the Spark and onward is horrendous, and becomes late-Marvel tier from 2020-onward.
I laugh and also cry on the inside at how Prof earnestly lays out a reasonable way to distribute Secret Lairs while everyone is fully well aware of why Hasbro won't do anything of the sort..
If they set MKM on New Capenna 95% of the flavor issues would be resolved IMO. I'm convinced it was supposed to be set there but they shoehorned it into Ravnica when SNC received a lukewarm reception.
And I'm still completely under the impression that I don't care anymore and am as tired of this specific critique as any faults of the actual set and just want everyone to *shut UP* about it already!!!
Murders at Karlov Manor really just made me feel like characters in Ravnica found a holodeck and got drunk for a month straight. I buy singles. I think I got a couple enchantments, sorceries and instants, and that's it. Pretty sure they were all worth less than 5 cents each. MKM is the biggest whiff in all of MTG. Best example of "just because you can, it doesn't mean you should".
I also think the Final Fantasy thing is going to be a big miss. There are so many of those games, and each one is its own epic story, and each story is involved enough where you have to know the story and the characters really well in order to properly create each card. Final Fantasy began as a franchise in 1987, and if you combine all the stories into a "universe" somehow, it's far more spansive than MTG itself by a lot. You need someone who intimately knows the game you're focusing on in order to make a set properly. If they don't, it's going to be too cringe and will risk misrepresenting it. It looks as though they're going to lean toward Final Fantasy 7, which is at least the most popular one, but what I've said still stands. I've been a fan of these games since the first one was new (I got it for NES in 1987 - well, my mom did; I was a kid), and if they screw it up it's going to leave a pretty bad taste in my mouth. This isn't like Marvel, where you can choose either comics or the movies or the shows to pick your flavor for the card sets. There's a lot of overlap that gives you huge margins with Marvel (or DC). It's also not quite like Doctor Who, which is a series based on a single character's stories. Final Fantasy is literally the largest thing WOTC has ever taken on, so it will be a big challenge, but they'll need a fan that has been there since the beginning (like myself) if they really want to get it right. After this past year I really don't feel very hopeful about it, and I really enjoy the idea of the SLD sets in general. I just don't think they're well enough prepared to do it right.
When they took the RING out of The Lord of the _____s, that was enough for me to flip wizards my ring finger which is worse and harder to do than the middle 😳
Clearly the rules committee did not think this through on how the banning was handled. Number 5 should have been called "Assassin's GREED!" We are bombarded by too many Magic releases. I pick and choose. I skipped 5 sets this year and will do so again in 2025. Thank you for the video Professor.
For me, it's not just the push of universes beyond, it's also the creatively bankrupt decision to just play dressup with the various planes instead of putting in the effort to build and expand on the lore. Based on next year's release schedule there is now exactly ONE set a year that upholds traditional magic values. WotC claimed they wanted to fix Standard and there were some good initial steps taken to do just that but when the best deck in the meta is inevitably Jace in a Five Nights at Freddy's suit using Spongebob with Fortnite emote instants, is the true magic community going to embrace it? I know i won't, and i doubt many others will either.
I've been a standard player most of my life. I built my first modern deck watching the formats inaugural pro tour and never stopped. The decision to deride and caricature magics own ip in favour of cashing into whatever pop culture casts off their way is what really pushed me to scrap all the formats I value in magic and get into premodern and old school, and restrict myself to only old border EDH decks. Foundations was almost a breath of fresh air before realising it was sandwiched between stranger things ghostbusters and final fantasy and that's not a standard I ever want to play.
I was so excited to get into standard this year as the first format to dip my toe into after burtsing out of my commander-only cuccoon. Suppose I'll just play pauper instead and hope UB doesn’t ruin that as well.
MH3 has had an (in my opinion negative) impact on Commander too, it’s not even the rares and mythics, but the commons and uncommons too. So many utility lands and tech pieces have been pushed out by cards that won’t ever see play in Modern.
My personal little conspiracy theory was that at some point way back, Murders at Karlov Manor was concieved as "a possible future murder mystery set" that was meant to be set on Capenna. Then Capenna's debut set crashed hard and when it came time to actually do the murder mystery set, it was "We can't use Capenna, players hated that plane. Lets set it on Ravnica. The aesthetic there isn't too far off and players love it every time we go there". All the tropey bs, the aesthetic, the theming of a murder mystery set, it all would have been perfectly at home on Capenna, and being a plane we'd only been to once meant it still had a lot of flexibility for world building.
And I'm still completely under the impression that I don't care anymore and am as tired of this specific critique as any faults of the actual set and just want everyone to *shut UP* about it already!!!
WotC’s management of this game has inspired me to pick up other hobbies this year 😂 RIP a great 20 year relationship, but Magic, you’ve changed beyond recognition.
Why can’t secret layers work like this instead? Announce the product, and open the shop for customers online. Keep it open for a month and then print enough for all the people who paid for it. Plenty of time to dangle the carrot in front of us and then say, “that’s it, here you go, onto the next one”
For me, one of the worst things Wizards did this year was alienating one of their most accomplished artists, Donato Giancola, with their dubious practices. What a way to disregard the game's own legacy and community.
They effed over a lot of their original artists too. There were lawsuits and court cases. Hasbro is a scum company with empty subhuman drones for executives who all deserve bankruptcy and a steady diet of only raw unpeeled potatoes
It just folds in with universes beyond politics. Hoping that in would only pollute player experience was foolish of everyone. Even if we look at the one ring and how it was banned almost exactly 1 year after the Christmas lotr set. That had to be due to a contractual obligation that made modern suck all year.
making foundation jumpstart booster not standart legal : ( bought tons of them just to find out i cant even play them in standart,why call them even foundation jumpstart
when I clicked the video my first thought was "Karlov Manor must be on this list" ... yup, well deserved "underwhelming is an understatement" ... THIS!
Its funny that Wizards treats the reserve list like its the word of the gods. But they have no problem backtracking or changing their promises to modern customers. This UB year will either have tremendous growth or cripple turnouts for seasoned regulars and new players that will show up in droves for themed drafts of final fantasy but low turnouts beyond their first few weeks of release to sets like spider man or sets that they are not particularly interested in.
I would like somehow for this UB push to backfire on WotC, but I just don't think it will. I think I am now in the minority- people who love the original planes of MtG. 😥
The RL had legal ramifications in the way they went about putting it into place. Trust me if they could tear it up and print the duals into oblivion they would.
I expect UB to be volatile. Not all sets will be homeruns. There is some franchise that will be duds. I also think players coming in because they see a set of a franchise they love will not necessarily stay for long. I mean LOTR is a huge franschise and best selling set but still last year revenues was up something like 3%. Clearly most of those new players buying LOTR didn't bought anything else.
@@Lazydino59 Print into oblivion? You mean releasing the "Dual Lands x Superman x Filly Funtasia" Secret Lair coming at $2000 for one copy of each dual land, Modern legal of course.
they'll gladly reverse course on the reserve list one day mark my words, there's too much profit to be had in reprinting those older cards and there's no way Hasbro is going to leave money on the table, they don't give a fuck about the super-fan hoarders that are willing to spend thousands of dollars on paper.
It is sad because I truly did like Karlov limited and I found the written story (and the puzzles!) pretty excellent. I wish the rest of the set matched those personal high marks and I totally understand how it landed flat for others
I can understand putting UB in Standard... They're trying to revitalize the format, and UB is a strong recruitment tool to bring in new players from other fandoms. Giving new players brought in from UB releases that on-ramp to the format they're trying to bring back just makes sense. That said, I really wish UB wasn't going into Pioneer. Like you said, the UB bubble may eventually burst, and if it does then the UB sets will eventually all rotate out of Standard. But Pioneer doesn't rotate. Once UB hits Pioneer, it's there forever.
Ub isn’t going anywhere. Magic is cardboard fortnight and don’t kid yourself into thinking otherwise. Hoping for the storm to pass will only bring despair when it doesn’t.
Friendly reminder, while you're waiting in line for your secret lair you could print all the cards from that drop. If you don't like a business model, don't support it
I still think Universes beyond should never have been full sets and they should've just continued the formula of making Universes beyond commander sets and leaving it at that.
They needed to stop at Godzilla style alternate names and arts of mechanically accessible cards like they fucking promised. They obviously never were going to, but that’s the exact right amount. Enough for fans of the ip mixing to get their kicks without locking unique mechanics away from players that actually liked magic.
@tc5589-1 That's what I think they should have done too. Just went the Godzilla route and did altered arts for already established cards like you said and then didn't do the mechanically unique ones that they print in scarcity to drive up prices. It's shady shady business practices.
But that isn't enough to make him stop supporting Hasbro. No, he has to do that because they own MTG. There are other better IPs to support, but no! He has to do support Hasbro. Dang it!
I think it says something about how the community feels about 2024s product. I'm in the minority because I loved MKM and OTJ and hated Bloomburrow but MKM is on this list.
It’s probably because there’s been a lot more bad news this year so the algorithm has more views of bad things associated with magic. It doesn’t know to account for the fact it’s due to there being so much more bad news so it assumes people just dislike magic.
They need to focus on merch. Apparel, mmo, pen and paper rpg, books, movies etc. Which would draw new players in. While at the same time get rid of the need to print 7 or 8 sets a year.
That initial point regarding the bannings is why I honestly think the whole medium needs to move away from its reliance on a secondary market to justify its gambling economy. People were viciously harassing these committee members for banning a set of cards because of perceived secondary market value. That's bad. And it's only going to get worse as time goes on. Sure, now people can only wail and gnash at a faceless, uncaring corporate entity. But that won't make the secondary market any less over-inflated and hostile. Edit: To be clear, I think the whole game needs to move to just offering playsets. Moving away from the glorified gambling being the norm. It sucks and is exhausting and painfully expensive, and clearly Wizards is cashing in their customer good will. Meanwhile stuff like these bans emphasize how destructive using the secondary market as a core part of the experience and the magic excuse to "solving" the gambling is.
Not only do I agree with you, but I also have to mention that the reserve list is still such a roadblock to accessibility for this game. It's so disappointing :(
UB in standard/being 50% Magic was enough for me to get into other formats like modern 2015, cube and Premodern. If you want to avoid UB I would strongly recommend you check those formats out!
I've had a lot of tough times in the last few years. Your content Brian along side other amazing people from other amazing TH-cam channels has really helped keep me going. You've helped me in more ways than you know. In return now that I'm at a stable finance for the first time since September 2006 I upgraded my Patreon to maximum really as a thank you Brian. For as long as I can afford that will remain. But also thank you for providing so much joy to those around you and those of us who watch your content. I hope 2025 does you well Brian
When it comes to bannings it has to more with the value of cards Seriously, look at Pauper, the player base just accepts it and moves on The more expensive the cards the worse the salt is All the EDH bans that players were upset with we're the +$100 cards, same with The One Ring in Modern
Pretty much all of Mark Rosewater's arguments in favor of UB once boiled down to "It's just one more dish in the buffet!" Well now my plate apparently has to have UB in it. If this were a dental metaphor, maybe UB could be the fluoride that keeps the game healthy (profitable) from a business perspective. But since we're using food, I now consider UB to be peanut butter: it should never have been allowed in the buffet in the first place because its flavor is so strong that it warps anything it gloms on to - plus for some people it's just plain deadly! Great job Mark, whatever foodstock you hope to use going forward, it's always going to have a hint of peanut butter -_-
So as a new Magic player all the UB stuff is what got me and my whole playgroup into Magic… so we are the case study for that working… Warhammer, Fallout, Assassin Creed, D&D, etc… we are all video game nerds and such that is what got our attention… and as a play group we are excited to see spider-man and whenever Final Fantasy cards show up.. I get that it’s not great for the people who have been in Magic since the jump but still feels bad getting flak from people who just don’t like the new sets… and has scared some people at LGS that are new to the game and just don’t play at all because of it all… my group now buys older and the “regular” sets coming out so it’s not like we are stuck in UB but still get all the flak for playing those cards.. but still liked this video and the positive one as well!!
Part of the hate for UB is simple glut of product. Ten years ago, you had 3 Standard sets in a block, 1 Standard Core set, 1 cycle of Commander decks, and up to 2 "outside" sets. In 2025, it'll be 6 Standard sets (and half of those will be UB), 1 Standard Foundations set, several cycles of Commander decks (based on the last few years), and who knows how many other "outside" sets, not to mention Secret Lairs.
@ I get that for sure… like I said i understand the discontent from the OG magic players.. all there reasons are valid.. “it’s not MAGIC anymore, we miss the lore, it doesn’t fit the vibe, ect” but what UB does is draw in new players… and that’s how the game will continue… because before all this UB stuff I saw Magic a little bit.. played even less.. but the UB stuff drew me in and kept me here and my play group playing… I’m just sayin as a whole group of players… you can have a gripe at the UB stuff.. but even just looking through the comments on this video saying “if I see anyone using UB stuff ever no matter what format it might be legal in… I won’t play with them” to me is crazy.. you WANT and NEED new players to join so the game you have enjoyed can still go on.. unless as a group you don’t want Magic to be a thing anymore… like I said I get why OGs are mad and such… but the game is what 30 years old… shizz changes.. for better or worse.. and everyone’s definition of “better or worse” for a card game is different. I just don’t want to see people get excited for a new set they think is cool just for the community to shit on them because it’s UB.
Ultimately the people that don’t like in will quit. I truly do hope that there’s enough of you to continue enjoying the game and reform the community, but you have to understand that the people giving you flak are losing the game they love and are trying to hold onto it. Eventually they’ll simply stop.
@@Bubben246for plenty of us its core principle. If there were only two standard sets a year and one was ub id still be moving to proxies only with an eye on selling my collection. 6 sets with 3 ub exacerbates that but thats it.
@@GirDelay it’s worth noting that the game was over thirty years old and the most played trading card game in the world without universes beyond. It didn’t need universes beyond and was getting enough new players to be hands down the most profitable part of hasbro. I played for decades and never lacked for new players or content but I am quitting now. So for me universes beyond has actually killed magic. I recognize that that’s not the case for everyone or you in particular. We just want different games and wotc chose you over its established players. It is what it is. Life goes on and we will find new hobbies. However, acting like this change was necessary to the games survival is insane. You’ve displaced the player base not added to it.
As someone who didn't watch the other video, I'm going to assume Prof's waiting time was 100% accurate and he only had six second of good things to cover about Magic this year
I like it when someone who loves some universis beyond is in my commander pod and excitedly plays the cards of thier favourite characters, thats good and I like seeing that. What sucks is when someone plays a universes beyond card has no idea what the character is and is playing it because its the best card for thier deck. By putting UB into standard they are basically forcing that dynamic onto everyone. Standard is competative and you play the best cards not the ones you like or care about. Also the limited print run for secret lairs means, that I goes on sale at 4 am for me and so I'll just never own one I guess...
20:08 still waiting on the Extra Live Drop to deliver to me. Should deliver at some point in Spring. Patience is a virtue. But this is so much better than not able to order it at the first place.
THANK YOU PROF FOR THAT #1 PICK. I feel quite validated. As someone who was just starting to get into the competitive scene of magic (took 4th in a local standard championship with an off meta brew!), this change HURTS. I was very, very excited for my future in competitive magic, but all that is gone now. I feel so much disdain towards this UB decision, and I can't help but feel I’m the only one.
Same situation for me. Started playing two years ago. Hooked by Sets like Brothers War and Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, Recently jumped into pioneer grinding regularly at LGSs. UB sets becoming legal in that format is a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE turnoff for me. And I like to play the UB stuff casually in Commander.
i don't play magic but the idea of a bunch of crossover content from other fictional settings being forced onto a game i love seems hellish to me. I would honestly refuse to play with those cards or with anyone who uses them
4:05 WotC Is ALWAYS the main culprit. They decide print rarity, they decide mechanic. Jeweled Lotus and Dockside exist because WotC made them that way. Mana crypt at least has the excuse of being incredibly old (and was originally a book promo) so design was less understood. The other two are clear targets for the gamemode intended to be powerful on creation. Don't blame the rules committee for the sheer act of pushing back against wizards, blame them for being so slow to the draw/poor with communication.
@@AlexofZippohaha that's also my thoughts. I proxy a lot of cards I don't have, and just do card-painted alter/proxies for duplicates of cards that I do. I can't get myself to get even duplicates of cheaper cards for different edh decks
Karlov Manor was basically shoehorning "Murder Mystery" and literally the game of Clue (Heck, you can find in EACH color an equipment that MATCHES one of the murder weapons in Clue, with the exception of the gun not existing in Karlov manor)
The universes beyond inclusion in standard and the diluting of magic as an original concept put the nail in the coffin on me ever buying into standard again, and makes me question whether I'll continue to enjoy magic anymore as a whole. I lean towards not unfortunately.
Thank you Helix Sleep for sponsoring! Helix’s End of Year Sale is running now for a limited time- Visit helixsleep.com/tolarian to get 25% off your mattress (plus two FREE pillows) and receive a Free Bedding Bundle with your Luxe or Elite order. Offers subject to change. #helixsleep
A fourth of july sale... Days after Christmas
Goofy ahh holiday mixup
I would do more research into your sponsors. Helix's website is possibly the most invasive website I have ever seen. Need to enter personal information before you can see any pricing or products at all. its genuinely a terrible shopping experience, and I say this as someone who is actively searching for a new mattress.
Do you lose revenue if we skip through the ad reads?
@@danielwilliams8183 I don't believe so. But I don't care either way.
I’m still completely under the impression that if MKM took place in New Capenna, it would’ve been drastically better. That setting would’ve been perfect for a murder mystery like MKM was.
The argument made against New Capenna was a lack of recognizable persons to be victims or suspects
I wonder how much the Clue tie in product influenced the choice of plane for MKM
Not sure about that. The whole deal about New Capenna is that there is no law enforcement. Gangster detectives wouldn't have had the same pop culture resonance.
Still would have been a novelty theme instead of a world.
@@kwintenkoeter7274
The angels came back at the end of the New Capenna story. They could have opened up the new detective agency.
I would like to humbly remind you that even this year, Wizzards ended printing in Portuguese, which affected many of us Brazilians. The teaching of the English language is not as vast in our country, and having Magic available in our native language was a great help for new players, who unfortunately, after the announcement, began to decline.
:(
While I agree that not having Brazilian Portuguese cards will hinder our ability to teach the game properly and to attract new players (and make non-English speakers more at ease with the game), it is nonetheless a blessing in disguise. The amount of egregious translation errors, some of them altering the very mechanics of the cards, was absolutely unacceptable. So, at least now we may buy cards that say what they mean, and not error-ridden, useless game pieces.
@@msarsur You're being too optmistic. It is not even close to a good tradeoff. It is a terrible one. Looks closer to a monkey's paw wish, if I may add...
"Please, no more translation errors to mtg portuguese!"
"Granted."
As a silver lining, Brazilian players won't have to witness Elon Musk buying Hasbro and printing Doge UB
@@msarsur that is stupid take. It is like having a house that need some some paiting but blowing it up instead.
"Why is every set a dressup set now?"
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. There's a MaRo article where he touches on it. Neon Dynasty leaned in to anime tropes and japanese pop culture, and was a grand slam. The most popular set of its year and, I think, one of the best selling standard sets ever. So they've been trying to do it again. Except the tropes of Neon Dynasty were only part of what made the set popular. It was a return to a fondly remembered plane, had a pretty good limited environment and impact on formats. It was also, importanty, the first time in a long time Magic was so obviously referencing outside material. It's like that old Rystic Studies quote: "It's fine to pay homage to the artists that inspired you, but do it too much and you risk become a cover act."
Honestly in no small part it’s a lack of novelty due to the deluge of UB and similar strategy. Also let’s not forget how many parody cards they have, like shoot the sheriff or paranormal analyst. It isn’t that they made sets inspired by out-of-game places and themes (like theros), it’s that that is ALL they’ve been doing this year and have too many “joke” cards that break what little immersion is left.
I loved Neo Kamigawa *despite* the anime bullshit. I love Cyberpunk, I love OG Kamigawa, it was supposed to be that combined. Not anime anime anime anime anime anime, and more anime. I guess I’m old now.
Alt cards were lame, but the sets concept was great, it was like a natural progression of the plane flourishing into an urban society.
*becoming
And I don't think that's all of it; it's not like kami of old were dressing like forgotten cyberpunk characters or something
BS that Kamigawa was a dearly remembered plane.
Having 50% of future sets being Universes Beyond just makes it easier for me to save more money or focus on buying more cards from older sets.
Good bright side. Much like how most new Marvel and DC Comics have been terrible, I have cause to go back to older comics and check out the ones I missed somehow, I can also do the same for Magic.
@@ryanbarrett5355 Yep, I've already started building Ravnica Guild Decks for Commander with as many cards from Ravnica as possible, and now is the perfect opportunity to complete this project.
Vote with your wallets, folks!
Just buy singles 😂
if you build a cube, wizards can never take the fun away from you
Hey @TolarianCommunityCollege i appreciate the list, but i feel t here is one omission. The Reducing of printed languages for MTG. For example, going forward there will be no Brazilian Portuguese cards. Although in the large scheme of things this might sound minor, i feel it should get at least a mention. Scaling back on card languages avaliable, will only serve to shrink the potential market for new players, which, creates a choke point of value, which could echo into worst decisions to compensate for financial loss across the entire game of MTG. Plus, it was a slap in the face of fans in non us speaking regions too.
The editors making him fail to point at whatever he means to always gets me
They use the TH-cam editor to display a link where he points, usually upper right. Although, what he mentions may be overlayed elsewhere.
I doubt anything will ever top the Pinkertons.
At least I *hope* so.
Give it time.
Funny. I was thinking something similar as I watched this vid.
It'll always be insane to me that WotC has bootlickers even after that happened.
I would argue the commander bans topped it handedly. At least the pinkerton debacle was typical corporate shenanigans.
The commander bans was the MTGs communities own ugly head rearing itself
What about Elon Musk buying-out Hasbro?
You can tell Murders at Markov Manor was set on Ravnica - it had a cycle of rare typed duals that are the main financial point of the set
I can't ever tell if people are saying markov deliberately
@bisowa8883 Murmers in Marmov Mamor.
@@bisowa8883wait for real, it’s not markov?
@@abusus75 Tesya Karlov predates Sorin Markov, or any planeswalker card, by 3 years.
@@abusus75Wrong plane. Markov comes from Innistrad, Karlov comes from Ravnica.
I cherish the editor's commitment to never putting the thumbnails where ever prof points. A+
I think its actually cus if they did, the thumnbnail would cut off his finger. Which would look weird. Or be too small, which would also look weird
Whats crazy is i didnt realize murders at markov manor took place in ravnica until you mentioned it in this video
Karlov*
Yeah, it was a pretty forgettable set lol
Considering that the name Karlov is heavily associated with the Orzhov Syndicate, should be a pretty straightforward connection to me.
I honestly thought it was Capenna based on some of the aesthetics
@@TheAverageGuyTAG The set's theme is so non-congruent with Ravnica that everyone instinctively replaces Karlov with Markov and assumes it must be an Innistrad set.
Ravnica clue edition 😂 no guns no glory
Prof's "It's a f****** card game people." Is something that I think a lot of people need to hear.
imo thats a cop-out. It's "just a card game" that is nearing a billion dollar revenue stream, with millions of players around the world, going on thirty years. The Prof himself has made a living out of "just a card game".
@@spencerbell8386 hey it's the guy who just wants to argue for the sake of arguing. GTFO
@@spencerbell8386yeah, agreed. Additionally, if you're going to say fuck, then say fuck. The bleep killed it. Prof could have at least made a point by saying the word and not censoring it. He may as well have not said it at all. It fell totally flat on me and it felt scripted and forced.
@@spencerbell8386yeah and Prof didn't send death threats over expensive card board. The value doesn't take away from the fact that people acted like that over CARDBOARD
@@spencerbell8386 if someone doxxed or threatened to r*pe you you’d probably say the same. Say maybe you were one of those people sending threats?
I love the running joke of the Professor pointing to a video only for it to show up on on the opposite side of him.
That War of the Spark trailer is just so freakin' powerful. I've shown it to friends who know zero or only the barest details about Magic and it gets them hype. The music, the atmosphere and the instant connections you can make.
Shame that Wizards never seemed able to top it since, even with their excellent Eldraine and Kamigawa trailers.
On a scale of epicness you're right, however the Bloomburrow trailer is my favorite. It is beautiful
Loot looks like something from Ratchet and Clank you beat to death with a wrench
_💀_
I love him
Tf bro he just a lil guy
Ratchet and clank mentioned make a wish
This is kind of psychotic.
I have to post it. My gf came down for breakfast just as prof was saying number 1 biggest problem. She doesnt play at all, and I paused before Prof started and asked her what it was. She said, "Spiderman?"
Not wrong is it
Na spiderman is hype af, half of the sets shouldnt be universes beyond but spiderman is hype
@@Wyrm7774why couldn’t it be a Spider-Man commander deck and a villains deck? What does a full set add that those don’t?
@@Wyrm7774god I hate how marvel and 40k fans infect everything they touch
@@deezboyeed6764shut up I hate marvel but god I want a full art foil Gwen 🤤
I often have to remind myself that the old rc members were normal people that weren't used to being threatened and doxed. Once I take that into account, I understand why they gave up control.
That's actually really insightful.
I am still ashamed of anyone who hassled the RC. What pieces of shit, actually. They loved this game, they nurtured and curated this game we also love, and then you all yelled at and threatened them. Shame on everyone who did that, you know who you are. Enjoy freaking WOTC’s stewardship; i’m sure they’ll do just *great*.
Anyone else feels that the whole harás harassment campaing may have been partly a false flag by WOTC employees pretending to be community members to try a successful coup of the RC??
No
@@minervadetauro7646what is blud waffling about
Silver lining, if they broke their promise about UB not coming to standard, it means they're free to break their promise about the reserve list!
Nice self-report
Print the list!
They won't. Not unless they can spin it to make Hasbro more money in the process.
Yeah, I'm not sure why they're so terrified of "promissory estoppel", or whatever the technical legal term is. I have to imagine the money they'd make on Legacy Masters would more than make up for whatever they have to spend on lawsuits.
Watch them print a set where it's all Reserve List lookalikes that are functionally the same, but either cost 1 extra mana or have some number on them knocked down by 1.
"Blackish Lotus" (0 cost; 2 free mana)
"Wheel of Good Luck" (4 cost; draw 6)
"Phyrexian Dreadship" (2 cost; 11 P/T)
"Ancestral Reminder" (draw 2)
"Max's Sapphire, Ruby, etc." (1 drop mana rocks for 1 mana each)
"Candlestick of Tawnos" (Pay X to untap X-1 lands)
"Low-Power Artifact" (reduces activation by 1)
Or just reprint the entire Reserved list as an Un set where they're all acorn cards. Call it "Unreserved".
very funny how a couple of years ago people decrying the UB stuff where treated as haters as if it wasnt obvious what was gonna happen
I keep forgetting Murders at Karlov is a Ravnica set. It always resets to an Innistrad side-story in my mind until someone mentions it was on Ravnica
Wizard's argument for the confusion of standard legality of UB products falls apart when they simultaneously created non legal FOUNDATIONS Jumpstart, the starter set product for new players.
Universes Beyond makes me so sad. I’ve been playing Magic literally my entire life - and now, after 25 years of playing, I’ve gotten completely and totally exhausted. I just can’t vibe with Sorin fighting Iron Man. I’m tired of the power creep. Tired of the inauthenticity. It just feels like one of the loves of my life has succumbed to share holder capitalism. Genuinely feel like I’ve lost one of my life passions. But I’m done.
I feel the exact same, been playing almost as long for most of my life. The bastardization of this game is nothing short of depressing to think about. But hey, it was just another chapter in my life coming to a close. I’ll never be in high school again, or the military. This is just another closing of a significant part of my life. But you and I got a lot to look forward to! Just be glad you got this truly once-in-forever experience and acknowledge life has many more experiences like this to offer.
UB frustration is understandable, and power creep has been too hot for that matter as well. I have similar frustrations. But what would you prefer, power creep and Ironman or the game discontinuation? The ‘capitalism’ mantra is more exhausting than UB. If they didn’t find a way to sell their product, the company would go under 🤷♂️ MKM was a giant flop, and it had UB vibes AND pushed cards. Imagine it didn’t have any power creep, and no sets after it had power creep-they would lose money, which simply is not s u s t a i n a b l e. Again, would you prefer the game die or power creep? Either way you be here complaining.
I saw the writing on the wall earlier this year, and got into Warhammer: age of Sigmar, and hadn't really looked back.
@@Lazydino59 feel the same guyz...
I sometimes think about coming back to Magic, but if I'm honest, the only sets I really liked where the Core sets. Just nice basic fantasy stuff, with a little Magic tint. No special set comes close that simple joy.
The Helix Mattress set it's gonna have awesome cards like Sleepy Goblin, Engulfing Dream, Sleepwalker Elf, Oversleep, and Pillow Golem!
"This _fear of missing out_ model has been an absolute _nightmare_"
I see what you did there
I think nadu should be #1 because of how bad the behind the scenes was for that card. It really revealed that WotC no longer cares about the quality of products they are releasing.
We have the designer of the card sharing that the card was changes last minute to better facilitate commander in a product that had its own commander sets that it could have gone in instead. The card ended up being so miserable in commander it also got banned there anyway.
We have the designer telling us they didn’t even understand that the ability triggered twice per turn *per creature* because the card had so little testing.
And we have MaRo telling us that’s it’s unreasonable for WotC to consider some of the deep card pools of old formats like modern when designing a set for… *checks notes*… modern.
I’m glad commander has been a successful format that so many people enjoy, and I’m glad WotC makes product for commander directly, but Nadu was the final nail in the coffin that shows WotC prioritizes commander to the detriment of all other ways you play magic, and does’t even do a good job at that.
lmfao "it’s unreasonable for WotC to consider some of the deep card pools of old formats like modern" and yet they sure are happy to Sell "Modern Horizons" sets
Nadu was also bad for the commander format, so frankly stop laying the blame on it. Nadu was bad because the design team was bad. I'm pretty sure that the design team would've changed it if the modern playtesters came back with the same feedback that the commander playtesters did.
The fault was with the design team making last minute changes, when we have a _list_ of last minute changes that absolutely destroyed formats. But instead of listening to the articles that were written about these cards, that flat out said that changing last minute without playtesting was a mistake, they just powered through, changed it, and released without proper playtesting.
Nadu didn't make players like me avoid Modern, Universes Beyond did. Same for standard, I was pumped to start grinding for big events again, and when they told me I'd need pictures of spiderman, I told them where to cram them.
To me it just shows how rushed modern horizon sets are.
Magic has been "fast food quality" since pre-pandemic when they almost double the quantity of release per year. With some exceptions, but lot of sets that feels kind of rushed to me. Karlov Manor and Thunder Junction felt like they didn't cared.
I maybe looking too far ahead to next year, but i can't wait for Prof to mention how aetherdrift and 30 pack booster boxes are one of the worst things to happen to Magic. The cut down was meant to bring down the price of boxes, yet pre-orders are going for about $160 dollars right now.
I should have known they’d take those six packs back 😂
Cutting down from 36 to 30 will absolutely make the list. Isn't it telling that a move like that which hasn't even happened yet has already incited much ire in the community?
Agreed. It was an obvious way to make more sales, and I hate it. Used to be 2 drafts per box. By selling 1.X, you're leveraging people's "value" judgement against them - "If I buy one box, I can do one draft. But if I buy 2 boxes, I can do 3 drafts!". It's the same theory microtransaction-based games use, trying to make you feel close to a big landmark or payoff so that you spend a little bit more than you otherwise would have.
Speaking of which - does anyone know if there's a formal term for this yet? Given how ubiquitous it is, it seems like it should have one, but I didn't find anything while googling...
why why why? wouldn't 32 make more sense since drafts are traditionally 8-player? or better yet, 40
It’s 160 because they have t shown anything yet. 160 is like a 20% profit margin before shipping costs. Once spoilers are out boxes will be around 100-120
Preach it Prof! How about a new Magic Format, The Blind Eternities, where only non-Universes Beyond cards are allowed?
This video is basically a point by point dissertation about why I no longer spend money on Magic, and why I'm completely disengaged from the game, aside from hacking around in Brawl on Arena. Which is just glorified solitaire.
The firehose of new sets, the extreme dissonance of shoehorning existing characters into sets like Clue and Thunder Junction, the ultra FOMO push, the dilution of Magic's IP with massive Universes Beyond inclusions.
I'm just burnt out, which is sad, because I really love this game.
Gotta love the 10% off one single pack deal the Arena in game store gave us for Christmas.
Fuckin greedy assholes
When's the last time someone cited MTG lore? UB is just different artwork and if it gets new people to play that's great! To me and others it's about the gameplay.
I’m in 100% agreement. I quit MtG and play Star Wars Unlimited now.
@@foreal7712 some people cared about the characters and the universe, shocking right?
They may be a minority, but they exist, heck, I cared for a decade, but it's clear i'm not important for either the player base (hence your comment and many many more like that) or the company, Making half the products stuff that is simply, NOT Magic. So I simply quit the Game, as many has done in recent years
@@foreal7712damn right, magic should just give up its identity at this point and go full fortnite as long as it attracts more playeers right?
To be fair the pictured Agrus Kos is pretty much the one established character from Ravnica that made sense as a detective.
The Universes Beyond thing is insane. I’m a YuGiOh player, but got interested in Magic with the realease of Phyrexia All Will Be One. The art, the story, it seemed really interesting, so I got some cards and even some Secret Lairs on the aftermarket.
Fast forward to seeing the craziness of Secret Lairs, the ever expanding dilution of the IP, and WotC’s indefensible monetization, and my enthusiasm was destroyed. Still have never actually played a game of Magic and those cards sit in a box.
That's really sad to hear. It is still a great game despite what WOTC is doing these days. I hope you at least get a chance to play at some point.
I got into magic because of the LOTR UB set
@@houndoom73 Thanks, I appreciate it. Maybe one day I’ll pick it up, but it just seems like a constant cash grab at this point. Though there are legitimate gripes people have with Konami, I’m quite happy with the state of YuGiOh, so that’ll be my game of choice for the foreseeable future.
@@TheAmpharosFreak What are you’re thoughts about UB overall though? Do you like it’s huge presence in the game at this point or would you prefer it exist in its own sort of realm?
Understandable but I’ll offer my condolences anyways. The game was a lot of fun and the community used to be pretty great.
And #1 is why I am leaving the game. It was a hard and heartbreaking decision, but a necessary one. The direction the game is going is not something I want to be a part of.
I completely feel where you are coming from. I have my EDH decks I won't be altering. I have my set cubes and vintage cube I won't be adding to. And I am going to start exploring Sorcery: Contested Realm gameplay. I hope, though, MtG returns to its roots one day.
boohoo nobody cares *thwip thwip*
@pedrogomezid speak for yourself. I care.
Good for you, it takes self respect to move away from these predatory companies
I am somewhat the same but I am not leaving the game completely.
Instead, I have stopped playing Modern, cancelled my plan to start playing Standard and just stick to EDH where I am not forced to buy because of FOMO.
I honestly think that designing sets for specific formats other than standard is harmful to the health of the game
Agreed. Even the commander precons shouldn’t have exclusive cards. Those precons could easily be built out from a mix of the new set and reprints
@@thebigsquig AMEN TO BOTH OF YOU!!!
Right when Prof was about to reveal the #1 worst item, TH-cam decided it was the best time to show me a MTG Arena ad. Took me a moment to realize it wasn’t a part of the video.
The universes beyond slop is the number one reason I now have a TCGPlayer seller account.
worst thing in mtg continues to be the fact that sheldon's spellbook isn't an evergreen print-to-demand fundraiser product, removing any potential extortion on it by scalpers. gavin, baby, there's always still time, use your powers per il bene supremo❤❤❤
Maaan, I really wish this was the case I'm so bummed I missed that one
@@screwball69they’re almost exactly the same price now as they were to order. So so many got ordered. I ordered as many as it would let me without any intent to sell.
The complete lack of mention regarding the discontinuation of other language prints really, really bothers me. In countries where learning a different language, like English, is a significant challenge, this decision will gradually reduce the entry of new players from places like Brazil, Portugal, Russia, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Sure, MKM and AC were bad design products, but losing new players sounds far worse. South America has never had official access to Secret Lair... For f# sake, if it doesn't affect the northern hemisphere, it seems like it doesn't matter anyway.
Very good point, that needs more attention.
I believe it was a financial decision. Largely people buy and/or desire english cards, even from the places you've mentioned. I know thats the case in eastern countries like Japan and the likes.
@@KromeDronethey also save ton of money on logistics and import/export taxes
Are Korea, China, Portugal, and Russia not in the northern hemisphere?
@@Voyajer.They're not "mainstream countries" aka USA and central europe
Karlov Manor made me angry in a way that magic rarely does. Ravnica is by a mile my favorite setting and the set this year clowned on all the rich and established history by putting detective hats on creatures.
Uninspired, lazy, insulting and patronizing. Most newer sets are "hey, remember this thing that was popular 5 years ago? Let's cram that into some existing plane and then forget about it."
To be fair on the detective point, Argus Kos is/was an actual crime scene investigator in the Boros Legion. It's the one real flavor win in the wasteland of that set.
Seconded.
Prof, I enjoyed this year's Best Of video. I know it doesn't get nearly as much hype as the Worst Of, but 2024's Best Of was a great summary and breakdown of some great things that happened to this game.
I first discovered your channel last year, and while I'm still learning all it has to offer, I appreciate all of the time and effort you dedicate to the M:tG community. Thank you, keep up the good work, and Happy New Year!
You’re right but come on. Three of them were the only good products this year. It was honestly depressing seeing a set that should be the standard make the top 5 and even mystery booster two had the caveat of “too bad most people couldn’t get it without buying the entire shabang”
Absolutely agree with #1. But I don't think they are able to deliver good in-universe sets anymore, not without kicking some dinosaurs from the product's lead. They have a terribly guided team now, and things like New Capenna, MKM, Halloween set and Cowboys set are here to show this. Like you said, they're doing character dress up more than any actual story/game development. FIRE design + greed + terrible company culture destroys the game more and more, so they're doing Disneyland sets now because they have no idea what else to do.
It's such a shame. I stuck with Magic because the Urza-Yawgmoth lore back then was amazing!
You name MKM, OTJ, Duskmourn (this set was a banger tho outside of the conflicted art direction, the story was very cool and it’s extremely fun to draft), and I point you Bloomburrow and Foundations
They can make great sets, they have several design teams and they don’t all work on the same sets.
Wilds of eldraine was the last good standard set for me
New Capenna was fine, imo. MKM, Thunder Junction and maybe Duskmourn are eh
New Capenna, to me, didn’t feel like a complete rip off of common tropes. It had some variety to it-it just suffers from some of the slapstick card names and things like that, “sleep with the fishes”, etc
@olipod5470 fully agree that duskmourn is a pretty good set. Cool villan cool plane fun mechanics
I've been playing since Beta, and was a guy who regularly bought multiple booster boxes with almost every release. The change to so much of Magic being UB has completely negated any desire for me to give WOTC any more of my $ - and I wasn't even opposed to UB, so long as they weren't forcing it to be a necessity. My wallet is thankful - it's so much easier to buy ink and card stock/foiling to proxy the cards I (or my friends, or literally anyone who I can save from this BS) want, and if I REALLY want a card, I'll trade from my current stock, or buy singles on the secondary market. At most, I'll stifle that urge to crack packs by playing limited, but....bad move overall, Wizards. Magic itself has such a strong culture and backstory this change does nothing to further. I know you're just a big corporation in a capitalist society, but here's hoping that the future sees enough failure on this premise to force a reversion. I'm not very hopeful - but stranger things have happened.
100% on point, Prof - stay amazing.
jokers on you prof, i watched this video BEFORE the best things video! i’m a free thinker
me too! I want to eat the brussel sprouts first and then have the apple pie!
I greatly respect you for choosing to address what happened with the RC in a way that doesn't try to take away from how nasty the community response was. I feel like way too many people let their discontent with the ban cloud their judgment on just how awful that all was.
A genuine tragedy, absolutely
Yeah 5:00 just glad when I can disengage, like when someone gets rabid support for Luigi Mangione (even nintendo Luigi caps to ruin it) or whatever popular cause of the week that went too far. Sports fans can get crazy too, so it's not just video/card games or politics. But at least there are nice people to focus on after disengaging, let alone a world of value when something price drops.
Wasn't that awful on the internet scale. Didn't hear anyone actually showing up at their houses with firearms or throwing a brick through a window, was a lot of posturing.
@@leadpaintchips9461haven't even seen a screenshot produced.
@@MrVariant Money is a powerful motivator for crime and violence. Drug dealers do so for the money. Thieves do so for the money. Although its just game pieces, there is a market and they have monetary value.
I’m a relatively new player (just a year and a half) and very recently into the lore: let me tell you my jaw dropped when you said MKM took place on Ravnica. Instantly I was like “ok I get why people didn’t like it”. I know some Ravnica lore, I know some MKM cards, and not once did I ever pick up that it was on Ravnica.
Same. It had to be spelled out to me in a TH-cam video that it was a set in Ravnica.
A good tip for enjoying MTG lore is to read up until just before The War of the Spark and then come up with your own head canon for how it ends.
The lore for War of the Spark and onward is horrendous, and becomes late-Marvel tier from 2020-onward.
I laugh and also cry on the inside at how Prof earnestly lays out a reasonable way to distribute Secret Lairs while everyone is fully well aware of why Hasbro won't do anything of the sort..
Hasbro CEO Chris Cox and his corporate greed. That’s the reason
If they set MKM on New Capenna 95% of the flavor issues would be resolved IMO. I'm convinced it was supposed to be set there but they shoehorned it into Ravnica when SNC received a lukewarm reception.
And I'm still completely under the impression that I don't care anymore and am as tired of this specific critique as any faults of the actual set and just want everyone to *shut UP* about it already!!!
@@christopherb501 Then why even comment?? It's clear people feel strongly about MKM; let them voice their complaints and discuss it.
@@christopherb501 You are aware that you're actively participating in an internet comment section, right? Because it doesn't sound like you are.
Hey prof, I totally agree with you regarding UB. Since they have announced that change I have migrated from pioneer to premodern! You should try it!
Murders at Karlov Manor really just made me feel like characters in Ravnica found a holodeck and got drunk for a month straight.
I buy singles. I think I got a couple enchantments, sorceries and instants, and that's it. Pretty sure they were all worth less than 5 cents each. MKM is the biggest whiff in all of MTG. Best example of "just because you can, it doesn't mean you should".
I also think the Final Fantasy thing is going to be a big miss. There are so many of those games, and each one is its own epic story, and each story is involved enough where you have to know the story and the characters really well in order to properly create each card. Final Fantasy began as a franchise in 1987, and if you combine all the stories into a "universe" somehow, it's far more spansive than MTG itself by a lot. You need someone who intimately knows the game you're focusing on in order to make a set properly. If they don't, it's going to be too cringe and will risk misrepresenting it.
It looks as though they're going to lean toward Final Fantasy 7, which is at least the most popular one, but what I've said still stands. I've been a fan of these games since the first one was new (I got it for NES in 1987 - well, my mom did; I was a kid), and if they screw it up it's going to leave a pretty bad taste in my mouth. This isn't like Marvel, where you can choose either comics or the movies or the shows to pick your flavor for the card sets. There's a lot of overlap that gives you huge margins with Marvel (or DC). It's also not quite like Doctor Who, which is a series based on a single character's stories. Final Fantasy is literally the largest thing WOTC has ever taken on, so it will be a big challenge, but they'll need a fan that has been there since the beginning (like myself) if they really want to get it right. After this past year I really don't feel very hopeful about it, and I really enjoy the idea of the SLD sets in general. I just don't think they're well enough prepared to do it right.
I completely forgot that the change to limited supply SLs was *this year*. Probably because of just how many there were.
Yeah. Feels like an eternity of bad news has come from wotc since that shift.
When they took the RING out of The Lord of the _____s, that was enough for me to flip wizards my ring finger which is worse and harder to do than the middle 😳
Clearly the rules committee did not think this through on how the banning was handled. Number 5 should have been called "Assassin's GREED!" We are bombarded by too many Magic releases. I pick and choose. I skipped 5 sets this year and will do so again in 2025. Thank you for the video Professor.
18 sets, with 9 of them being Universes Beyond, is wild, and I don't think I want to play like that
For me, it's not just the push of universes beyond, it's also the creatively bankrupt decision to just play dressup with the various planes instead of putting in the effort to build and expand on the lore. Based on next year's release schedule there is now exactly ONE set a year that upholds traditional magic values. WotC claimed they wanted to fix Standard and there were some good initial steps taken to do just that but when the best deck in the meta is inevitably Jace in a Five Nights at Freddy's suit using Spongebob with Fortnite emote instants, is the true magic community going to embrace it? I know i won't, and i doubt many others will either.
I don't know if you know. Epilogue Aftermath was soured to me when they hired the Pinkertons to swarm Old-school mtg
Universes Beyond is the reason several players I know stopped playing altogether.
One of the things that frustrates me in the UB situation is the whole Final Fantasy set when FF has their own current TCG around.
So does Marvel!!
@@Arctanis-vt3hl Didn't knew Marvel has a current card game as well, oof.
I've been a standard player most of my life. I built my first modern deck watching the formats inaugural pro tour and never stopped.
The decision to deride and caricature magics own ip in favour of cashing into whatever pop culture casts off their way is what really pushed me to scrap all the formats I value in magic and get into premodern and old school, and restrict myself to only old border EDH decks. Foundations was almost a breath of fresh air before realising it was sandwiched between stranger things ghostbusters and final fantasy and that's not a standard I ever want to play.
We need a new artifact, Teferi’s Toothpaste Tube.
Quick! Put it back in the tube!!
Careful, I hear Colgate wants a secret lair 😜
I was so excited to get into standard this year as the first format to dip my toe into after burtsing out of my commander-only cuccoon.
Suppose I'll just play pauper instead and hope UB doesn’t ruin that as well.
MH3 has had an (in my opinion negative) impact on Commander too, it’s not even the rares and mythics, but the commons and uncommons too. So many utility lands and tech pieces have been pushed out by cards that won’t ever see play in Modern.
My personal little conspiracy theory was that at some point way back, Murders at Karlov Manor was concieved as "a possible future murder mystery set" that was meant to be set on Capenna. Then Capenna's debut set crashed hard and when it came time to actually do the murder mystery set, it was "We can't use Capenna, players hated that plane. Lets set it on Ravnica. The aesthetic there isn't too far off and players love it every time we go there".
All the tropey bs, the aesthetic, the theming of a murder mystery set, it all would have been perfectly at home on Capenna, and being a plane we'd only been to once meant it still had a lot of flexibility for world building.
And I'm still completely under the impression that I don't care anymore and am as tired of this specific critique as any faults of the actual set and just want everyone to *shut UP* about it already!!!
@@christopherb501 Then why are you in the comments of a video where its a main topic, lol.
@@christopherb501seems you could have avoided it by not reading the comments or watching the video? Don’t go to the zoo if you hate animals.
WotC’s management of this game has inspired me to pick up other hobbies this year 😂 RIP a great 20 year relationship, but Magic, you’ve changed beyond recognition.
exactly!
Welcome to the club!
Why can’t secret layers work like this instead?
Announce the product, and open the shop for customers online. Keep it open for a month and then print enough for all the people who paid for it.
Plenty of time to dangle the carrot in front of us and then say, “that’s it, here you go, onto the next one”
For me, one of the worst things Wizards did this year was alienating one of their most accomplished artists, Donato Giancola, with their dubious practices. What a way to disregard the game's own legacy and community.
what did they do to him?
They effed over a lot of their original artists too. There were lawsuits and court cases. Hasbro is a scum company with empty subhuman drones for executives who all deserve bankruptcy and a steady diet of only raw unpeeled potatoes
It just folds in with universes beyond politics. Hoping that in would only pollute player experience was foolish of everyone. Even if we look at the one ring and how it was banned almost exactly 1 year after the Christmas lotr set. That had to be due to a contractual obligation that made modern suck all year.
making foundation jumpstart booster not standart legal : ( bought tons of them just to find out i cant even play them in standart,why call them even foundation jumpstart
seriously?
Because wotc is run by idiots and sellouts at every level.
when I clicked the video my first thought was "Karlov Manor must be on this list" ... yup, well deserved "underwhelming is an understatement" ... THIS!
Its funny that Wizards treats the reserve list like its the word of the gods. But they have no problem backtracking or changing their promises to modern customers.
This UB year will either have tremendous growth or cripple turnouts for seasoned regulars and new players that will show up in droves for themed drafts of final fantasy but low turnouts beyond their first few weeks of release to sets like spider man or sets that they are not particularly interested in.
I would like somehow for this UB push to backfire on WotC, but I just don't think it will. I think I am now in the minority- people who love the original planes of MtG. 😥
The RL had legal ramifications in the way they went about putting it into place. Trust me if they could tear it up and print the duals into oblivion they would.
I expect UB to be volatile. Not all sets will be homeruns. There is some franchise that will be duds. I also think players coming in because they see a set of a franchise they love will not necessarily stay for long. I mean LOTR is a huge franschise and best selling set but still last year revenues was up something like 3%. Clearly most of those new players buying LOTR didn't bought anything else.
@@Lazydino59 Print into oblivion? You mean releasing the "Dual Lands x Superman x Filly Funtasia" Secret Lair coming at $2000 for one copy of each dual land, Modern legal of course.
they'll gladly reverse course on the reserve list one day mark my words, there's too much profit to be had in reprinting those older cards and there's no way Hasbro is going to leave money on the table, they don't give a fuck about the super-fan hoarders that are willing to spend thousands of dollars on paper.
It is sad because I truly did like Karlov limited and I found the written story (and the puzzles!) pretty excellent. I wish the rest of the set matched those personal high marks and I totally understand how it landed flat for others
I can understand putting UB in Standard... They're trying to revitalize the format, and UB is a strong recruitment tool to bring in new players from other fandoms. Giving new players brought in from UB releases that on-ramp to the format they're trying to bring back just makes sense.
That said, I really wish UB wasn't going into Pioneer. Like you said, the UB bubble may eventually burst, and if it does then the UB sets will eventually all rotate out of Standard. But Pioneer doesn't rotate. Once UB hits Pioneer, it's there forever.
Ub isn’t going anywhere. Magic is cardboard fortnight and don’t kid yourself into thinking otherwise. Hoping for the storm to pass will only bring despair when it doesn’t.
Thank you for reminding me that Im still waiting on my 8-bit art secret lair for the charity event
Is this the foil version?
Friendly reminder, while you're waiting in line for your secret lair you could print all the cards from that drop. If you don't like a business model, don't support it
9:40 AssCred sounds like a bad cryptocurrency
I haven't actually played Magic this year. Thanks for the recap, Prof.
I still think Universes beyond should never have been full sets and they should've just continued the formula of making Universes beyond commander sets and leaving it at that.
They needed to stop at Godzilla style alternate names and arts of mechanically accessible cards like they fucking promised. They obviously never were going to, but that’s the exact right amount. Enough for fans of the ip mixing to get their kicks without locking unique mechanics away from players that actually liked magic.
@tc5589-1 That's what I think they should have done too. Just went the Godzilla route and did altered arts for already established cards like you said and then didn't do the mechanically unique ones that they print in scarcity to drive up prices. It's shady shady business practices.
We've done it, lads. We've found things the Professor doesn't like. 🎉
But that isn't enough to make him stop supporting Hasbro. No, he has to do that because they own MTG. There are other better IPs to support, but no! He has to do support Hasbro. Dang it!
@AxsorXIwhat do you mean he supports hasbro?
@AxsorXIunfortunately he's tied to Hasbro. He can't easily leave unless he wants himself and all his employees to be out of a job.
Waiting for the Magic is dying video, and my year will be complete. Prof thanks for being the voice of reason in the MTG community.
Except Magic is indeed dying
@@minervadetauro7646 How so? Please give some examples.
@@minervadetauro7646 Nah
Nahuh! 😂
He’s been far too tolerant of barefaced bad magic decisions.
I love how prof released a video on the best things, but that never crossed my feed. TH-cam loves negativity huh?
Yeah, the "Best Of" video performed pretty bad and this one is already popping off. Le sigh.
I think it says something about how the community feels about 2024s product. I'm in the minority because I loved MKM and OTJ and hated Bloomburrow but MKM is on this list.
It’s probably because there’s been a lot more bad news this year so the algorithm has more views of bad things associated with magic. It doesn’t know to account for the fact it’s due to there being so much more bad news so it assumes people just dislike magic.
Why do I get Goosebumps when you adress splinter twin being unbanned
because you're a nerd
Thanks for being you professor and thanks for a whole year of great content.
They need to focus on merch. Apparel, mmo, pen and paper rpg, books, movies etc. Which would draw new players in. While at the same time get rid of the need to print 7 or 8 sets a year.
That initial point regarding the bannings is why I honestly think the whole medium needs to move away from its reliance on a secondary market to justify its gambling economy. People were viciously harassing these committee members for banning a set of cards because of perceived secondary market value. That's bad. And it's only going to get worse as time goes on. Sure, now people can only wail and gnash at a faceless, uncaring corporate entity. But that won't make the secondary market any less over-inflated and hostile.
Edit: To be clear, I think the whole game needs to move to just offering playsets. Moving away from the glorified gambling being the norm. It sucks and is exhausting and painfully expensive, and clearly Wizards is cashing in their customer good will. Meanwhile stuff like these bans emphasize how destructive using the secondary market as a core part of the experience and the magic excuse to "solving" the gambling is.
Not only do I agree with you, but I also have to mention that the reserve list is still such a roadblock to accessibility for this game. It's so disappointing :(
@@TheOmegaBear09there is relatively little on the reserved list that's actually important for any format outside of legacy and vintage.
gAmE pIeCeS
I definitely agree with you but it will never happen since its what the TCG business runs on
@@TheOmegaBear09 oh i'm sure Hasbro will do away with the reserve list one day.
I loved the use of the swear in the best of video.
I was not expecting it to be flipped here for the most effective roller coaster of a one-two punch.
UB in standard/being 50% Magic was enough for me to get into other formats like modern 2015, cube and Premodern. If you want to avoid UB I would strongly recommend you check those formats out!
I've had a lot of tough times in the last few years. Your content Brian along side other amazing people from other amazing TH-cam channels has really helped keep me going. You've helped me in more ways than you know. In return now that I'm at a stable finance for the first time since September 2006 I upgraded my Patreon to maximum really as a thank you Brian. For as long as I can afford that will remain. But also thank you for providing so much joy to those around you and those of us who watch your content. I hope 2025 does you well Brian
When it comes to bannings it has to more with the value of cards
Seriously, look at Pauper, the player base just accepts it and moves on
The more expensive the cards the worse the salt is
All the EDH bans that players were upset with we're the +$100 cards, same with The One Ring in Modern
Yep. Being told we can’t play expensive cards we saved up for in a casual format was a terrible feeling.
Pretty much all of Mark Rosewater's arguments in favor of UB once boiled down to "It's just one more dish in the buffet!" Well now my plate apparently has to have UB in it. If this were a dental metaphor, maybe UB could be the fluoride that keeps the game healthy (profitable) from a business perspective. But since we're using food, I now consider UB to be peanut butter: it should never have been allowed in the buffet in the first place because its flavor is so strong that it warps anything it gloms on to - plus for some people it's just plain deadly! Great job Mark, whatever foodstock you hope to use going forward, it's always going to have a hint of peanut butter -_-
I would suggest Mark Rosewater should drink rosewater maybe he wakes up from his state of whatever.
So as a new Magic player all the UB stuff is what got me and my whole playgroup into Magic… so we are the case study for that working… Warhammer, Fallout, Assassin Creed, D&D, etc… we are all video game nerds and such that is what got our attention… and as a play group we are excited to see spider-man and whenever Final Fantasy cards show up.. I get that it’s not great for the people who have been in Magic since the jump but still feels bad getting flak from people who just don’t like the new sets… and has scared some people at LGS that are new to the game and just don’t play at all because of it all… my group now buys older and the “regular” sets coming out so it’s not like we are stuck in UB but still get all the flak for playing those cards.. but still liked this video and the positive one as well!!
Part of the hate for UB is simple glut of product. Ten years ago, you had 3 Standard sets in a block, 1 Standard Core set, 1 cycle of Commander decks, and up to 2 "outside" sets. In 2025, it'll be 6 Standard sets (and half of those will be UB), 1 Standard Foundations set, several cycles of Commander decks (based on the last few years), and who knows how many other "outside" sets, not to mention Secret Lairs.
@ I get that for sure… like I said i understand the discontent from the OG magic players.. all there reasons are valid.. “it’s not MAGIC anymore, we miss the lore, it doesn’t fit the vibe, ect” but what UB does is draw in new players… and that’s how the game will continue… because before all this UB stuff I saw Magic a little bit.. played even less.. but the UB stuff drew me in and kept me here and my play group playing… I’m just sayin as a whole group of players… you can have a gripe at the UB stuff.. but even just looking through the comments on this video saying “if I see anyone using UB stuff ever no matter what format it might be legal in… I won’t play with them” to me is crazy.. you WANT and NEED new players to join so the game you have enjoyed can still go on.. unless as a group you don’t want Magic to be a thing anymore… like I said I get why OGs are mad and such… but the game is what 30 years old… shizz changes.. for better or worse.. and everyone’s definition of “better or worse” for a card game is different. I just don’t want to see people get excited for a new set they think is cool just for the community to shit on them because it’s UB.
Ultimately the people that don’t like in will quit. I truly do hope that there’s enough of you to continue enjoying the game and reform the community, but you have to understand that the people giving you flak are losing the game they love and are trying to hold onto it. Eventually they’ll simply stop.
@@Bubben246for plenty of us its core principle. If there were only two standard sets a year and one was ub id still be moving to proxies only with an eye on selling my collection. 6 sets with 3 ub exacerbates that but thats it.
@@GirDelay it’s worth noting that the game was over thirty years old and the most played trading card game in the world without universes beyond. It didn’t need universes beyond and was getting enough new players to be hands down the most profitable part of hasbro. I played for decades and never lacked for new players or content but I am quitting now. So for me universes beyond has actually killed magic. I recognize that that’s not the case for everyone or you in particular. We just want different games and wotc chose you over its established players. It is what it is. Life goes on and we will find new hobbies. However, acting like this change was necessary to the games survival is insane. You’ve displaced the player base not added to it.
The Prof at his best. He’s like The Boss, hits his stride when singing the blues
As someone who didn't watch the other video, I'm going to assume Prof's waiting time was 100% accurate and he only had six second of good things to cover about Magic this year
I like it when someone who loves some universis beyond is in my commander pod and excitedly plays the cards of thier favourite characters, thats good and I like seeing that. What sucks is when someone plays a universes beyond card has no idea what the character is and is playing it because its the best card for thier deck. By putting UB into standard they are basically forcing that dynamic onto everyone. Standard is competative and you play the best cards not the ones you like or care about.
Also the limited print run for secret lairs means, that I goes on sale at 4 am for me and so I'll just never own one I guess...
I liked Murders at Karlov Manor, mainly because i love detective stuff
20:08 still waiting on the Extra Live Drop to deliver to me. Should deliver at some point in Spring. Patience is a virtue. But this is so much better than not able to order it at the first place.
THANK YOU PROF FOR THAT #1 PICK. I feel quite validated. As someone who was just starting to get into the competitive scene of magic (took 4th in a local standard championship with an off meta brew!), this change HURTS. I was very, very excited for my future in competitive magic, but all that is gone now. I feel so much disdain towards this UB decision, and I can't help but feel I’m the only one.
Same situation for me. Started playing two years ago. Hooked by Sets like Brothers War and Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, Recently jumped into pioneer grinding regularly at LGSs. UB sets becoming legal in that format is a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE turnoff for me. And I like to play the UB stuff casually in Commander.
@ amen brother. Wotc is killing their most important players... the up and coming veterans.
Thank you for waiting, Prof 👍🏻 Sheldon would be pleased his buddy is still the voice of magic community.
what did he wait for?
i don't play magic but the idea of a bunch of crossover content from other fictional settings being forced onto a game i love seems hellish to me. I would honestly refuse to play with those cards or with anyone who uses them
Which is why a genuinly unfortunate number of people are simply quitting. It’s the only way to do that.
4:05 WotC Is ALWAYS the main culprit. They decide print rarity, they decide mechanic. Jeweled Lotus and Dockside exist because WotC made them that way. Mana crypt at least has the excuse of being incredibly old (and was originally a book promo) so design was less understood. The other two are clear targets for the gamemode intended to be powerful on creation. Don't blame the rules committee for the sheer act of pushing back against wizards, blame them for being so slow to the draw/poor with communication.
I want secret lair to keep selling out, Proxy cards are getting more popular finally
I’m just glad they finally made the system too shit for me to justify spending money on it.
@@AlexofZippohaha that's also my thoughts. I proxy a lot of cards I don't have, and just do card-painted alter/proxies for duplicates of cards that I do. I can't get myself to get even duplicates of cheaper cards for different edh decks
Karlov Manor was basically shoehorning "Murder Mystery" and literally the game of Clue (Heck, you can find in EACH color an equipment that MATCHES one of the murder weapons in Clue, with the exception of the gun not existing in Karlov manor)
The universes beyond inclusion in standard and the diluting of magic as an original concept put the nail in the coffin on me ever buying into standard again, and makes me question whether I'll continue to enjoy magic anymore as a whole. I lean towards not unfortunately.
Proxies. It’s my solution to playing without financial cost.
10:58 "Some stood up and high five each other" literally just two guys stood up in the video xD