Do me a big favor? Take a moment to watch my Top New Commander Cards from JumpStart 2022 video if you have no already: th-cam.com/video/kpOwG6UExXo/w-d-xo.html
Im sure it's been said but since it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why mine had a random extra land..that gorgeous mountain in the back is the "extra" bonus card...mine was an island.
Foil cards are the exact same thickness as non-foil. All cards are .0125 inches thick. You can use a micrometer and measure a card from any era and they are all exactly the same. It's probably the slight bend that makes the deck thicker.
There is a point where their general incompetence hurts you. The result is hardly different than as if they were actually malicious, especially if they are so apathetic to the harm that they are causing and do nothing to change. I don't find myself caring much if the root is incompetence or malice if the result is 99 percent the same.
The small tidbit about Wizards not liking you, but liking Josh and Jimmy shows just how much the community absolutely adores you for being on OUR side.
I feel like You, the Professor, represent me as a player who has been playing and deck building since 1994. Your perspective speaks to me and most magic players I know.
@@pr0fess0rbadass It's a perfect example of what happens when a company demands you keep your head down and stay in line. Jimmy and Josh look away and get rewarded. The Professor refuses and gets rejected.
I think when Wizards cut ties with The Professor that really shows where they shifted philosophies from take care of the players to make as much as possible don't question us
It also shows how much hasbro is pushing wizards to deliver on profits With 2021 being bout a billion in revenue. The hunger to keep pushing that envelope definitely shows in the quality drop of foils and just shit products being dumped.
As a long time magic player and collector, I finally stopped buying and playing this year. Nearly every pack of cards I've opened in the last year has had significant defects (usually edging). The overwhelming greed of WotC had just gotten so glaringly obvious that it ruined what fun was left in the game for me. That, and the reality of buying a few dollars worth of pretty cardboard for the cost of a night in a nice hotel room just doesn't compute.
Could you imagine an annual event where the community chose someone whose commander deck was made into a secret lair? Do some kind of charity drive or tournament where the different commander decks battle it out for the honor of being immortalized as a secret lair.
Itll end up being some cedh deck and they'd replace it with super bad cards since it would be super expensive and it would probably be super unplayable and unfun. I love the idea, i really do. But realistically... won't happen
@@zuterwer1835I agree with your statements but they *could* do this awesome idea the right way and it could work. For example put a $300 cap on cards in the deck. Then sell for $199 in full foil and $149 non-foil. That would sell and be AWESOME!!!!
@@zuterwer1835 obviously I agree with your premise. However, they could do exactly what they with “Head I Win, Tails You Lose” where they work towards a playable downgraded version of people’s real decks. Especially if they did a tournament style charity event where people would be able see the decks in action.
Let's have a creator tournament for Extra Life. Everyone enters their favorite 7-power deck, with the caveat that there can be no doubling of commanders. Do a tournament of 16 or 12 or something and sell the top 4 from the finals as precons, with the option to bling them out. Hell, you can make them not tournament legal for all I care--gold border or whatever.
"Thats why I don't work for wizards I work for you and I'm glad too"- aww proff that was soo cool to hear and you have showed over the years just how seriously you take it.... we are lucky to have youu
Same. I pretty much stopped buying Magic product, especially sealed stuff. If I want to make a deck now, I won't go do that whole dopamine pack-cracking thing. I'll just, buy the specific things I want, or proxy it myself with my cardstock and my printer, lol.
It makes me sad that WOTC can't see what an amazing and valuable voice you are for the community. Instead of shunning you they should be thanking you and consulting you. I don't understand how they can't realize that your criticism is from a place of love for this game and love for this community. I hope you know that the community values you and what you do. Even when I don't agree with you I know that your concerns are not from a place of malice.
There's a bunch of creative team employees on good terms with TCC I believe, but I'd imagine those with issues are just like every other public personality: thin skinned and unable to deal with even passing criticism or mockery.
Because they've gone full corporation. Anything that goes against the hype train is their enemy. Their business model of absurd levels of growth can only be fueled by psychologically manipulative marketing, and voice of dissent, no matter how well meaning, they want to deplatform.
Fun story: My mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year, around a hundred dollar budget. So I asked for this Secret Lair; I love Magic, it looked like a fun deck. Had I known It would have led to nearly a year of customer service headaches I'd have honestly chose something else. Their sorry was grossly insufficient: those Kamigawa boosters weren't even when Kamigawa was the most recent set (Dominaria United was when I got my apology packs). I also thought all the cards would be in that cool art style instead of just like 5 of them. My mother told me she'd never purchase a product from Wizards of the Coast again, and I don't blame her. Wizards absolutely refused at all ends of customer service we could find to help us, explain what was happening, or update us on anything. They were rude, slow, and just otherwise unhelpful: assuming you could get to a human.
@@Saylin021 I worry that's why they do it, because a significant enough of their base may actually respond to it positively, mistaking it for real emotion. Probably anyone who hasn't experienced or been part of corporate marketing and meetings before. The naked opportunism in it all. At best its just overly calculated and at worst its contemptful. Incidentally I feel that way any time I try and watch politicians give press conferences or speeches, even ones from like the 90's. You can *feel* the curation and manipulation viscerally. (Its actually why I prefer older commercials, they were just as manipulative at the time but they're so much more blunt and bad at it that it almost becomes quaint.)
A shadowborn apostle deck where each of the apostles is a different art, but when you put them all together they make one giant piece of art! I would pay $100 for that
If you made a circle of Shadowborn Apostles around a demon card, and then made another circle of Shadowborn apostles around that circle, you would have 24 Sb Apostles (you could also cut the four corners for themed mana rocks or the like, down to 20 SB apostles) and one slot in the center of the art piece for various interchangable demon cards. Call it Summoning Circle. Easy slam dunk.
I can't believe WotC had the audacity of sending "angry letters" to the Professor. He has to be one of the most valuable members of this community, always encouraging us to see things not as they are, but as they could be instead. "It's about letting you be in control of what Magic means to you" has to be some of the best advice anyone getting into this game could ever get. If WotC it's not happy about him calling them out on how they are constantly ripping us off, then maybe they could do something about it and see the error of their ways, however unlikely that is. But messing with the Professor is too much, and they would do better in understanding how beneficial he is for this game. Thank you for everything you do for this community, Professor. You are a shining beacon of light on this dark and twisted path WotC is taking us through, and a wonderful human being.
“They didn’t *want* it to be delayed; it’s just incompetence.” “I’m one perfect sleeve short! 99! Dragon Shield, what are you doing? Ah, not Dragon Shield, KMC- *oh, that explains it…”* Can we get more unscripted videos? I like this sassy Prof. 😂🤣😂
Listening to ANYONE who can be so cogent, vulnerable, honest, and well-spoken when they are also 100% unfiltered and unedited is SO FECKING REFRESHING. And THIS is why I respect The Professor so much. GREAT content, sir!
I'm pretty happy with my deck, what irks me about this is that they made art for the basic lands related to the decks and relegated it to the extra card. That mountain was the extra card, the perfect fit did nothing wrong😂
Omg I haven't played paper commander in years and watching you go through the whole sleeving ritual, from seeing the cards to counting the cards to watching them all fall everywhere in a huge mess... pure nostalgia
The mountain is actually the bonus card, it could have been an island with special art. So it was a 50/50 chance again, either a mountain or an island as the bonus card.
Thank you for being a part of the community prof. If it weren't for you, I don't know if I would have stayed with magic after I came back from a long break. You are a wholesome force of good in the community and our world, and the world in general, better for having you in it.
I ordered the Secret Lair with the alternate Atraxa and Breya. They didn't give me the option to pre-pay. They charged my card back in April, and gave me a tracking number. I check it every week. It still has not shipped.
I think your second pile had 21 cards, which means KMC gave you 100 sleeves and the Mountain was extra. :) I could be wrong, but I went back and counted it a few times to be sure!
@@TheKauzdoctor Yeah I had an extra Island as well. I think they added one EA land, either Mountain or Island, to each deck but didn't mention it anywhere?
Re: Missed Opportunities I think it would have been nice if Wizards used Secret Lairs exclusively as Artist Showcases. Those are my absolute favorites.
Listen I have only ever purchased 1 secret lair and it was Junji Ito that finally pulled me in. BUT. I am willing to pick up at least 1 more if they bring Chippy back to do more Esper themed cards.
I fully agree, the artist showcases are the best ones. Outside artists yes, but especially the ones that celebrate long-time Magic artists. But I've also loved the ones with the kids' art.
I'm willing to admit that I did buy most of the secret lairs from August cuz they had posty, my favorite lili, and two sick as all fucking hell art sets. Shinkawa got me dropping so hard.
I feel like the Prof is channeling the community directly, because he's a genuine member of it. My reaction was the same as the Prof's I opened up my deck and when I got to the "bonus" card I just thought to myself "Why didn't they make all the islands and mountains this cool coin flip treatment?" I know a lot of people were expecting Mana Crypt but I have been around long enough to know that wasn't happening. I was excited for the deck for the thing you should be excited for, to play it.
This commentary is SO spot on. The community is critical of the company and its treatment of the game because we love the game. We're angry because we care.
If you look at Gavin’s decklist, you’ll see Wizards took an amazing deck, watered it down a TON, removed almost everything of remotely any value and left in just enough guts for it to *function*. And sold it for $100. Then took a year to ship it.
When I saw this deck, I loved the idea so I printed Gavin's list and played it. I am such an idiot, I could have spent money and waited 1 year instead.
I disagree. This deck is very functional and consistent as long as you play around kraks thumb. For a $100 deck to one shot people by turn 5 is absolutely loveley.
I love to hear that magic is a game to play and not sit on a shelf. Everybody gets to decide what it means to them, but at the heart of the cards is a game. Which I feel as though WotC is moving away from.
Yeah, but then that would be communism. And we can't have that in the US, now can we? Can't have workers be paid the value of their labor. If you start doing it with card games, workers will expect it in every industry. How would executives make loads of money then?
Adored this video. As someone very new to magic, its been a whirlwind of bad news and long time fans telling me this game I'm growing an affection for is a sinking ship. I like to think that as long as there's passionate community members and dedicated content creators like you existing in the realm of Magic there's still good times to look forward to.
Yeah, I'm really surprised. Even beyond that, I'm shocked that cards don't even have a special set marker. They're just cards from a mish-mash of sets AND are marked as such.
@@TheBizzerker I noticed they all have the planeswalker symbol in the lower corner, so it's essentially a standard 5-card secret lair packaged with 95 cards from the List
@@jollaffle Yeah, I bet they did that because they had limited resources and headcount to print-test and get new arts. The main EDH product treatment team might have already been working on the W40k decks. The List was all about minimal effort reprints so it would make sense to re-use that system for this.
i love these videos because you get so much good insight and thoughtfulness from the professor. The same insight and thoughtfulness that comes from someone who isn't coddling the hobby/thing they love and are willing to call out the short comings in hoping to see improvement.
I think showing goodwill to the community, especially after Magic 30th shenanigans, is more important than ever. I love the idea of a "Token of Good Will" to be redeemed for a secret lair. But I also think that 2 collector boosters of the most valuable set in recent memory is pretty decent.
I feel like the half-foil thing is a nod to the deck theme itself: 50/50, half and half, it's a coin flip. Even with the foil basic lands, that means that half your landbase in any given game will be foil, and half not. It's actually something I think is pretty good about the deck because I can see an artistic decision behind it
What I believe they should’ve done for making us wait a year to receive the secret lair is as a surprise to the people who purchased them. They should have put a random secret lair inside of the shipping box so that when we receive them we also got another secret lair with it chosen completely at random
I love the dull foiling when the highlighted parts have pop like the whispersilk does. I personally love the foiling technique for this set. It gives depth to foils that generally flatten the look to me.
Paying your people more from having more is the mind set that resonates with me. It's what makes the channel truly shine. If your people feel appreciated they will put the effort in for quality and passion!
You missed one card while counting at 33:40 The mountain is the bonus card. I got and island. So happy I waited a year. In all actuality I love this deck, it is so fun to play and pretty powerful too.
1 year wait, with the 1/2 foil part of deck being basic lands, and having either a mountain or island as secret card? I'm not sure if that's the best outlook for a product that should have never been delayed.
@@alaricdavis5479 go to the secret lair page and click the link in the description that says "see full deck list" it specifies what cards are foil and which arent
Thank you for making a series like Shuffle Up and Play. To me, its a piece of Magic content that I can watch that's actually about playing the game and gathering with friends. :)
"I'm not furious I'm just numb." Noooo! Professor, their tactic of lowering your quality standards by repeatedly failing to live up to them time and time again has worked! 💀
I truly adore these unscripted videos Prof. It really feels like I'm sitting right next to you and you're speaking your heart and mind to a friend about what you love. If being unscripted makes you uncomfortable, by all means return to a script. But I for one love these!
The idea of an “apology” being two collectors’ boosters is such a middle finger to the people who spent the money on this product. The Secret Lair service is so shameless it’s incredible
Two packs whether ordered 1 deck or 10 decks or sixty decks....... Tie up $100 for a year =2 packs .... Tie up $1000 for a year = 2 packs , tie up $6000 for a year = 2 packs
My girldfriend sitting next to me just asked: are you watching a meditation video? And I kind of did actually, really enjoy those videos as well as the rest of your content. :) There are two things I want to mention: Those cardboard deckboxes at least hold single sleeved decks in Ultra Pros. So they're not completely useless. I think the full art mountain is the bonus card for this Secret Lair. I guess they did use the Battlebond basics here because the set holds a special place in Gavin's heart since he was its lead designer.
Keep in mind that the company invested your money in that year. They bought revenue generating assets, paid some fat bonuses, and made money off your money generally. That whole time, you had no product and did not have the money that the product cost. They should refund a percentage of these things tbh.
You manage to say everything I think about magic and wizards so well, I can't find a creator that I agree with more, and I love the content that comes with!
I would absolutely have cut them some slack before they released 10+ sets in a year. It's obvious they chose profit over their promises, and this product was only the most recent example.
8:42 same, I bought 2 Premium Slivers deck for 30€ and I couldn't be more glad on having have done it, especially due to its actual price! That was a great product that I wish it would come back 20:50 this 2 minutes or so of speech embodies the love, care, humanity a one being could have: you, the Prof, loving M:tG, people, the community, the concept of "everybody grow, not just me myself selfishin' me", creating genuine excitement, passion and joy, seeing and hearing how much and how you DO feel and nourish Love, is ... warming, truly deeply warming, giving a bit of hope: You are inspiring and I strongly hope that more and more people will be inspired by people like you to having more and more care of others and "living being", like an "environment" like M:tG could be! THANK YOU
my biggest problem with double sided tokens is that they are really frustrating to organize, I try to keep my tokens alphabetically so its ez to grab what anyone needs.
My solution is to keep the double sided ones seperate, and also in my closet to be forever forgotten except when I get more to throw into it. Recently I also bought those erasable token cards from card kingdom and just stopped using tokens all together.
I hate how hard they are to organize. I am thinking about just giving up on the double sided ones altogether because they just take so long to sort through to actually find what I'm looking for.
I bought this product a full year ago, waiting for when it would finally arrive. I bought sleeves and a deck box for it ahead of time, expectantly awaiting the arrival of my awesome new product! When it finally came, I carefully opened the package, and what did I find?! 10 of my 100 cards came damaged! Not shipping damage, no. The deckbox was placed in another cardboard box, then wrapped in bubble wrap, then placed in another cardboard box, then placed in the shipping box! There's no way it could have been the shipping. The cards had clear damaged to the edges and the corners, and one of the cards was even creased. I cannot express enough how disappointed I was, especially after I waited two full weeks for Secret Lair support to get back to me.
The issue isn't so much that it took a year. Lots of big projects take time to make. The issue is that in that year, WotC barfed out multitudes of sets, SLs, anniversary products, and commander decks, globally, with few delays. It really did feel like once they had our money, they were in no hurry to deliver
That gray box with an orange interior is TOTALLY my jam. I use cheap plastic boxes from the likes of Legion and Ultra Pro, but I might have to spluge on that Gamegenic. That peek of orange is the exact sort of subtle and in your face blend that I love.
I’m proud of supporting you and your channel. In a world full of people willing to selling themselves to the highest bidder, it’s refreshing to know that there are still those who stand by their morals, and have an actual spine.
This was a very nice video. I watch many of your critiques on things but this was the first of yours that I've seen as basically a stream of consciousness. I don't know if you have more videos like this but I would love to see more in the future.
Over a year and I'm still waiting. They didn't put my full address on the package and it was shipped back to the sender. Currently in contact with Wizards support to see if they can ship it back to the correct address. The thing is is I've ordered multiple SL products to this address with that account so I know for sure that my address was correct.
Watching this video... I just had the urge to say: I really respect you Professor, as a content creator, as a consumer advocate, and as a person. I can only hope to become as eloquent and understanding as you are one day. The good you have done for the community and for me personally cannot be overstated; even when I wasn't playing Magic for money or accessibility reasons, I kept on watching this channel and it's what keeps me in this game. So thank you, and I'm glad I got to say this as I've never commented before. Happy holidays!!
Some things I would change with this product: 1. Make the "thank you card" a Treasure token on the other side (instead of blank), with custom artwork based on the Secret Lair with which it comes. 2. Make the coin heavier, akin to the first edition of Splendor: give it some heft while not spending too much on making them out of metal. 3. Provide a deckbox that can actually accommodate 100+ double-sleeved cards. 4. Lose the dial: if a player's life total goes above 40, the dial is useless anyway. 5. Keep the foil treatment for legendary creatures and planeswalkers that can be a commander for the deck, similar to the commander decks from 10 years ago.
That might be, to some extent a thing motivating a lot of employees there because that's why they took the job over other jobs they'd be qualified to do in the first place, but executives are appointed by shareholders and what shareholders want is dividends and their stock prices to go up. They don't give a shit about quality. Some brokerage firm holding 3% of MTGs shares is going to vote to elect a board of directors that they believe will give them bigger returns.
This was a surprisingly therapeutic session, particularly the bit of the discussion about culling your collection and treating Magic as something you own and play your way. Felt like I was listening to Mr. Rogers or something.
You don't hate it, you're mourning the decline. I'm doing the same, but I had to cut and go. Still supporting the channel, hope to see more FAB content.
Prof, I enjoy these videos because it's like hanging out for a bit. Thank you. Also, in regards to you businessman-ship-ness... yep. Your business practices breed loyalty. I truly do wish, more folks thought the way you do. This world would be a better place Sir.
I suggest a recount of your deck and match them up with the decklist. My full art land was an extra “101” card and I’m pretty sure that was the intention considering some get a mountain and others get an island.
What makes this video most impactful to me is to go back and watch his original video where he talks about the potential of this secret layer drop and how excited he was for the concept
I'm glad to see your positive attitude toward this product. I ordered one but when there was delay after delay, they wanted to charge my card with no delay end in sight. So I canceled the order. So your positive attitude toward this is fantastic, never change Prof.
Do me a big favor? Take a moment to watch my Top New Commander Cards from JumpStart 2022 video if you have no already: th-cam.com/video/kpOwG6UExXo/w-d-xo.html
You sleeved your deck in the exact same sleeves as I put mine in
Way ahead of you Prof.
did u use 2 perfect fits for the 2 doublesided art cards? hence u were 1 short of 101?
Im sure it's been said but since it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why mine had a random extra land..that gorgeous mountain in the back is the "extra" bonus card...mine was an island.
Foil cards are the exact same thickness as non-foil. All cards are .0125 inches thick. You can use a micrometer and measure a card from any era and they are all exactly the same. It's probably the slight bend that makes the deck thicker.
The golden statement: “Don’t attribute to malice what you can attribute to just general incompetence”.
True story, MTG30 was supposed to just be $10.00 but someone forgot to add the decimal.
Hanlon's razor. Its been my go to for a while now.
Am I supposed to feel better if WotC is incompetent?
There is a point where their general incompetence hurts you. The result is hardly different than as if they were actually malicious, especially if they are so apathetic to the harm that they are causing and do nothing to change.
I don't find myself caring much if the root is incompetence or malice if the result is 99 percent the same.
But also "sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice"
The small tidbit about Wizards not liking you, but liking Josh and Jimmy shows just how much the community absolutely adores you for being on OUR side.
I feel like You, the Professor, represent me as a player who has been playing and deck building since 1994. Your perspective speaks to me and most magic players I know.
Josh and Jimmy USED to be on the community's side until they got gobbled up by WotC
@@pr0fess0rbadass It's a perfect example of what happens when a company demands you keep your head down and stay in line. Jimmy and Josh look away and get rewarded. The Professor refuses and gets rejected.
@@pr0fess0rbadass I don't know, I saw Jimmy on Twitter shitting all over the 30th anniversary proxies.
@@pr0fess0rbadass shit take
If Prof did a second channel where he just sleeved cards and talked about his decks I would watch it.
Monetize all aspects of his life! Seriously though I would watch as well.
SHOWER MAGIC!!!
Same
SHOW AND TELL
Reminds me when I looked at cards with my friends. Would be nice.
I think when Wizards cut ties with The Professor that really shows where they shifted philosophies from take care of the players to make as much as possible don't question us
It also shows how much hasbro is pushing wizards to deliver on profits With 2021 being bout a billion in revenue. The hunger to keep pushing that envelope definitely shows in the quality drop of foils and just shit products being dumped.
How long until PK gets the axe, too? He's become exasperated in his recent videos.
@@desertcombat06 who's pk?
@@henryedmondson6245 pleasant kenobi
As a long time magic player and collector, I finally stopped buying and playing this year. Nearly every pack of cards I've opened in the last year has had significant defects (usually edging). The overwhelming greed of WotC had just gotten so glaringly obvious that it ruined what fun was left in the game for me. That, and the reality of buying a few dollars worth of pretty cardboard for the cost of a night in a nice hotel room just doesn't compute.
Could you imagine an annual event where the community chose someone whose commander deck was made into a secret lair? Do some kind of charity drive or tournament where the different commander decks battle it out for the honor of being immortalized as a secret lair.
Itll end up being some cedh deck and they'd replace it with super bad cards since it would be super expensive and it would probably be super unplayable and unfun.
I love the idea, i really do. But realistically... won't happen
@@zuterwer1835I agree with your statements but they *could* do this awesome idea the right way and it could work. For example put a $300 cap on cards in the deck. Then sell for $199 in full foil and $149 non-foil. That would sell and be AWESOME!!!!
@@sanctred give me my orvar the all form with out of color duals.
@@zuterwer1835 obviously I agree with your premise. However, they could do exactly what they with “Head I Win, Tails You Lose” where they work towards a playable downgraded version of people’s real decks. Especially if they did a tournament style charity event where people would be able see the decks in action.
Let's have a creator tournament for Extra Life. Everyone enters their favorite 7-power deck, with the caveat that there can be no doubling of commanders. Do a tournament of 16 or 12 or something and sell the top 4 from the finals as precons, with the option to bling them out. Hell, you can make them not tournament legal for all I care--gold border or whatever.
"Thats why I don't work for wizards I work for you and I'm glad too"- aww proff that was soo cool to hear and you have showed over the years just how seriously you take it.... we are lucky to have youu
"I don't work for Wizards of the Coast. I work for you, and I'm glad to." I Really appreciate this Proff, I hope you know we all adore you for this.
It feels like Magic went from a game that is also a business to a business that happens to be a game.
Every company feels like that now
@@KnightsofTitan FaB is kinda good
That's a lot of hobby industry right now, and it's really hurting the gamers.
Same. I pretty much stopped buying Magic product, especially sealed stuff. If I want to make a deck now, I won't go do that whole dopamine pack-cracking thing. I'll just, buy the specific things I want, or proxy it myself with my cardstock and my printer, lol.
Well put
It makes me sad that WOTC can't see what an amazing and valuable voice you are for the community. Instead of shunning you they should be thanking you and consulting you. I don't understand how they can't realize that your criticism is from a place of love for this game and love for this community. I hope you know that the community values you and what you do. Even when I don't agree with you I know that your concerns are not from a place of malice.
There's a bunch of creative team employees on good terms with TCC I believe, but I'd imagine those with issues are just like every other public personality: thin skinned and unable to deal with even passing criticism or mockery.
Because the executives in charge don't love the game. Just watch the fireside chat.
@@GodwynDi it’s really impressive how little they care about the game.
Because they've gone full corporation. Anything that goes against the hype train is their enemy. Their business model of absurd levels of growth can only be fueled by psychologically manipulative marketing, and voice of dissent, no matter how well meaning, they want to deplatform.
Why would they “thank” the Professor for constantly exposing their blatant profiteering lol
3:13 The most ominous line in a TCC video ever; "Where's my Professor knife?"
Fun story: My mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year, around a hundred dollar budget. So I asked for this Secret Lair; I love Magic, it looked like a fun deck. Had I known It would have led to nearly a year of customer service headaches I'd have honestly chose something else. Their sorry was grossly insufficient: those Kamigawa boosters weren't even when Kamigawa was the most recent set (Dominaria United was when I got my apology packs). I also thought all the cards would be in that cool art style instead of just like 5 of them.
My mother told me she'd never purchase a product from Wizards of the Coast again, and I don't blame her. Wizards absolutely refused at all ends of customer service we could find to help us, explain what was happening, or update us on anything. They were rude, slow, and just otherwise unhelpful: assuming you could get to a human.
We contacted customer service because it had been six months since we had heard a peep from the company.
@@Rayquaza894 are you seriously defending WOTC?
Why would you do something like that to your own mother 😂
"Magic ends up in the binder sometimes more than in the deck"
Damn.
10 minutes of this video is more positive and insightful than the entire fireside corporate chat thing.
I did not even make it through 10 minutes of that flaming dumpster of dung. I became extremely nauseated and spent the next hour in the bathroom.
@@jasonjacovelli4227 It's honestly crazy that they keep on doing this kind of thing when the results are so obvious every time lol
@@Saylin021 I worry that's why they do it, because a significant enough of their base may actually respond to it positively, mistaking it for real emotion. Probably anyone who hasn't experienced or been part of corporate marketing and meetings before. The naked opportunism in it all. At best its just overly calculated and at worst its contemptful.
Incidentally I feel that way any time I try and watch politicians give press conferences or speeches, even ones from like the 90's. You can *feel* the curation and manipulation viscerally. (Its actually why I prefer older commercials, they were just as manipulative at the time but they're so much more blunt and bad at it that it almost becomes quaint.)
WotC needs to suffer
A shadowborn apostle deck where each of the apostles is a different art, but when you put them all together they make one giant piece of art! I would pay $100 for that
Me too
But people would have to agree how many Apostles go in such a Deck first
@@Schnaqer 25
@@Schnaqer60
If you made a circle of Shadowborn Apostles around a demon card, and then made another circle of Shadowborn apostles around that circle, you would have 24 Sb Apostles (you could also cut the four corners for themed mana rocks or the like, down to 20 SB apostles) and one slot in the center of the art piece for various interchangable demon cards.
Call it Summoning Circle. Easy slam dunk.
"A great idea that Wizards implemented sloppily in order to absolutely maximize profit".
--The Anthem of Our Times
This is the Hasbro way!
I can't believe WotC had the audacity of sending "angry letters" to the Professor. He has to be one of the most valuable members of this community, always encouraging us to see things not as they are, but as they could be instead. "It's about letting you be in control of what Magic means to you" has to be some of the best advice anyone getting into this game could ever get. If WotC it's not happy about him calling them out on how they are constantly ripping us off, then maybe they could do something about it and see the error of their ways, however unlikely that is. But messing with the Professor is too much, and they would do better in understanding how beneficial he is for this game. Thank you for everything you do for this community, Professor. You are a shining beacon of light on this dark and twisted path WotC is taking us through, and a wonderful human being.
“They didn’t *want* it to be delayed; it’s just incompetence.”
“I’m one perfect sleeve short! 99! Dragon Shield, what are you doing? Ah, not Dragon Shield, KMC- *oh, that explains it…”*
Can we get more unscripted videos? I like this sassy Prof. 😂🤣😂
Honestly dragon shield has been very frustrating for me lately
@@robby6382at least they do the baker’s dozen thing. Every box I’ve purchased has had somewhere between 102 and 108 sleeves.
I always get at least 2 or 3 extra sleeves, it's weird to see one short.
Didn't he put the commander in a perfect fit as well so there were exactly 100?
@@robby6382 oh? How?
Listening to ANYONE who can be so cogent, vulnerable, honest, and well-spoken when they are also 100% unfiltered and unedited is SO FECKING REFRESHING. And THIS is why I respect The Professor so much. GREAT content, sir!
I'm pretty happy with my deck, what irks me about this is that they made art for the basic lands related to the decks and relegated it to the extra card. That mountain was the extra card, the perfect fit did nothing wrong😂
This video has a certain sense of melancholy to it and I appreciate it.
Prof, you are a gift to the community and please never change.
Nothing like getting excited when it finally came in and the "extra card" was a basic mountain
Or island but not both for some reason. Two special art foil basics would have broken a billion dollar company.
The bonus Island/Mountain should've been double-sided like the commanders themselves.
Alittle fun note: the commander art actually combines together to make a bigger picture. The more blue sides line up and so do the more red sides
It pained me when prof used both different sides
Went to the comments to see this after watching the Prof sleeve them the 2 different ways
I also run the two different sides on mine I like the way they look.
"I work for you, and I'm glad to."
You're just an A+ kind of person Prof! You really care for this game and it's community and it shows!!!
We’re all glad you’re working for us too Prof!
Omg I haven't played paper commander in years and watching you go through the whole sleeving ritual, from seeing the cards to counting the cards to watching them all fall everywhere in a huge mess... pure nostalgia
The mountain is actually the bonus card, it could have been an island with special art. So it was a 50/50 chance again, either a mountain or an island as the bonus card.
it's really silly that they didn't include both
@@simopen what's silly is paying for new exclusive coin flipping art and not making all the basic lands the new art for the deck
Wouldn't that mean he's missing a card then? He counted 99 before sleeving the bonus mountain.
@@FusterIsBased might either be missing a card, or missed to count a card
@@FusterIsBased I think he miscounted
Thank you for being a part of the community prof. If it weren't for you, I don't know if I would have stayed with magic after I came back from a long break. You are a wholesome force of good in the community and our world, and the world in general, better for having you in it.
When my Year of the Rat Secret Lair came a year later, they gave me a full collector booster box of Theros Beyond Death.
I think that was a matter of scale. You were one of maybe a few people, whereas this was literally everyone
@@Rybesh532 probably but this was only given out to the people who prepaid as well. If you opted to pay upon shipment you get nothing.
I ordered the Secret Lair with the alternate Atraxa and Breya. They didn't give me the option to pre-pay. They charged my card back in April, and gave me a tracking number. I check it every week. It still has not shipped.
@@dawnfallon6812has it shipped yet? It has been a year
I think your second pile had 21 cards, which means KMC gave you 100 sleeves and the Mountain was extra. :) I could be wrong, but I went back and counted it a few times to be sure!
I had one extra Island as well so yes he miscounted.
@@TheKauzdoctor Yeah I had an extra Island as well. I think they added one EA land, either Mountain or Island, to each deck but didn't mention it anywhere?
Yeah it's the 101st card in the deck, 51st foil FWIW
Yup, he starts the 2nd pile with 2 cards and calls 'one', then the third card is 'two' etc. Definitely miscounted.
Re: Missed Opportunities
I think it would have been nice if Wizards used Secret Lairs exclusively as Artist Showcases. Those are my absolute favorites.
Listen I have only ever purchased 1 secret lair and it was Junji Ito that finally pulled me in. BUT. I am willing to pick up at least 1 more if they bring Chippy back to do more Esper themed cards.
@@Radiodragonofdoom I picked up Junji Ito's prints in JP and Yoji Shinkawa's prints in both ENG and JP.
I fully agree, the artist showcases are the best ones. Outside artists yes, but especially the ones that celebrate long-time Magic artists.
But I've also loved the ones with the kids' art.
I'm willing to admit that I did buy most of the secret lairs from August cuz they had posty, my favorite lili, and two sick as all fucking hell art sets. Shinkawa got me dropping so hard.
I'd have bought 4x of the Yoji Shinkawa drop. The only SL I've gotten is that and the Wayne Reynolds one
I feel like the Prof is channeling the community directly, because he's a genuine member of it. My reaction was the same as the Prof's I opened up my deck and when I got to the "bonus" card I just thought to myself "Why didn't they make all the islands and mountains this cool coin flip treatment?" I know a lot of people were expecting Mana Crypt but I have been around long enough to know that wasn't happening. I was excited for the deck for the thing you should be excited for, to play it.
I just looked at the video length and knew this was gonna be good
This commentary is SO spot on. The community is critical of the company and its treatment of the game because we love the game. We're angry because we care.
If you look at Gavin’s decklist, you’ll see Wizards took an amazing deck, watered it down a TON, removed almost everything of remotely any value and left in just enough guts for it to *function*. And sold it for $100.
Then took a year to ship it.
When I saw this deck, I loved the idea so I printed Gavin's list and played it. I am such an idiot, I could have spent money and waited 1 year instead.
I disagree. This deck is very functional and consistent as long as you play around kraks thumb. For a $100 deck to one shot people by turn 5 is absolutely loveley.
I love to hear that magic is a game to play and not sit on a shelf. Everybody gets to decide what it means to them, but at the heart of the cards is a game. Which I feel as though WotC is moving away from.
Sharing wealth with those who helped you get that wealth would solve so many issues here in the US. Mad respect prof.
Yeah, but then that would be communism. And we can't have that in the US, now can we? Can't have workers be paid the value of their labor. If you start doing it with card games, workers will expect it in every industry. How would executives make loads of money then?
More like in almost every part of the world =/
@@Bluecho4had a case of communism here, after it fell apart it's much better than America
I really like the idea of Prof having a “Professor Knife” that’s some kind of mystical artifact.
Professor Knife 1 | Equip: 2 | Equipped creature gets +1/0 and Prowess. When Professor's Knife becomes equipped, Scry 1.
Every time they tried to send it they flipped a coin and got tails so it was returned to hand.
😂
That would explain the broken and missing coins
Adored this video. As someone very new to magic, its been a whirlwind of bad news and long time fans telling me this game I'm growing an affection for is a sinking ship. I like to think that as long as there's passionate community members and dedicated content creators like you existing in the realm of Magic there's still good times to look forward to.
It's only five special treatment cards?! This whole time I thought the whole deck was, and that's why people were so excited... 😂
Yeah, I'm really surprised. Even beyond that, I'm shocked that cards don't even have a special set marker. They're just cards from a mish-mash of sets AND are marked as such.
@@TheBizzerker I noticed they all have the planeswalker symbol in the lower corner, so it's essentially a standard 5-card secret lair packaged with 95 cards from the List
@@jollaffle Yeah, I bet they did that because they had limited resources and headcount to print-test and get new arts. The main EDH product treatment team might have already been working on the W40k decks. The List was all about minimal effort reprints so it would make sense to re-use that system for this.
i love these videos because you get so much good insight and thoughtfulness from the professor. The same insight and thoughtfulness that comes from someone who isn't coddling the hobby/thing they love and are willing to call out the short comings in hoping to see improvement.
Mine got lost in the mail. I had to put in a replacement request. Glad to see you got yours.
Oof sorry to hear that.
I think showing goodwill to the community, especially after Magic 30th shenanigans, is more important than ever.
I love the idea of a "Token of Good Will" to be redeemed for a secret lair. But I also think that 2 collector boosters of the most valuable set in recent memory is pretty decent.
So the new rule of thumb is for every 6 months of waiting they throw in a collector booster?
This was like an M:tG version of watching Bob Ross paint. So calming. Thanks Prof.!
"At least it came" *cries in phyrexian preator secret lair*
I have received some Secret Lairs I've ordered this year, but am still waiting on one from last year.
That's odd, mine came last year
I feel like the half-foil thing is a nod to the deck theme itself: 50/50, half and half, it's a coin flip. Even with the foil basic lands, that means that half your landbase in any given game will be foil, and half not. It's actually something I think is pretty good about the deck because I can see an artistic decision behind it
What I believe they should’ve done for making us wait a year to receive the secret lair is as a surprise to the people who purchased them. They should have put a random secret lair inside of the shipping box so that when we receive them we also got another secret lair with it chosen completely at random
Idk about that, they need to be the same price. That’s like randomly sending 1-3 boosters, the people who only get 1 booster are going to be pissed.
@@willjackson5885 agreed
"I don't work for Wizard's. I work for you."
-Professor Brian, man of the people.
Check out the foil whispersilk cloak. When you shift it in the light, the cloak practically disappears and reappears.
I love the dull foiling when the highlighted parts have pop like the whispersilk does. I personally love the foiling technique for this set. It gives depth to foils that generally flatten the look to me.
"You could have made this so much better for the same price" is just WotC and Hasbro in a nutshell.
Wizards doesn't need to like you for us to like you prof 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Paying your people more from having more is the mind set that resonates with me. It's what makes the channel truly shine. If your people feel appreciated they will put the effort in for quality and passion!
You missed one card while counting at 33:40
The mountain is the bonus card. I got and island. So happy I waited a year.
In all actuality I love this deck, it is so fun to play and pretty powerful too.
1 year wait, with the 1/2 foil part of deck being basic lands, and having either a mountain or island as secret card? I'm not sure if that's the best outlook for a product that should have never been delayed.
Tbf we knew at the time of purchase what cards were foil
@@lackoffaithh where was the list? I was never informed about this
They where battle bond lands tho 🤣
@@alaricdavis5479 go to the secret lair page and click the link in the description that says "see full deck list" it specifies what cards are foil and which arent
Thank you for making a series like Shuffle Up and Play. To me, its a piece of Magic content that I can watch that's actually about playing the game and gathering with friends. :)
"I'm not furious I'm just numb."
Noooo! Professor, their tactic of lowering your quality standards by repeatedly failing to live up to them time and time again has worked! 💀
you should do more of these videos, its refreshing to hear your gripes about WOTC and magic in general while sleeving card.
Prof's pulling a Fawful today. "I HAVE FURY!!!!!!"
I feel so old!!!
I did not expect to see this comment, but I'm happy it exists. That was a very good series of games.
OMG, a blast from the past
This episode had Mr. Rogers vibes in the absolutely best way
I got a grill full art island and I was so confused as to why all the basic lands weren't like that....like you already commissioned the art
I truly adore these unscripted videos Prof. It really feels like I'm sitting right next to you and you're speaking your heart and mind to a friend about what you love. If being unscripted makes you uncomfortable, by all means return to a script. But I for one love these!
The idea of an “apology” being two collectors’ boosters is such a middle finger to the people who spent the money on this product. The Secret Lair service is so shameless it’s incredible
unfortunately my middle finger is a praetor so ... im not sure what to feel.
@@leonc4653 I didn't even get 2 collectors boosters lol
At least Hasbro didn’t burn your house down, steal your women, and kill your children. 😮
It's 50 bucks worth of product, NEO collector packs in particular are hard to come by cause they sell out basically instantly.
Two packs whether ordered 1 deck or 10 decks or sixty decks....... Tie up $100 for a year =2 packs .... Tie up $1000 for a year = 2 packs , tie up $6000 for a year = 2 packs
My girldfriend sitting next to me just asked: are you watching a meditation video? And I kind of did actually, really enjoy those videos as well as the rest of your content. :) There are two things I want to mention:
Those cardboard deckboxes at least hold single sleeved decks in Ultra Pros. So they're not completely useless.
I think the full art mountain is the bonus card for this Secret Lair. I guess they did use the Battlebond basics here because the set holds a special place in Gavin's heart since he was its lead designer.
"hey I got a broken coin"
"Do you want a dollar or do you want us to send it to you a coin?"
"Will it take a YEAR to arrive?"
"Maybe...?"
Keep in mind that the company invested your money in that year. They bought revenue generating assets, paid some fat bonuses, and made money off your money generally. That whole time, you had no product and did not have the money that the product cost. They should refund a percentage of these things tbh.
You manage to say everything I think about magic and wizards so well, I can't find a creator that I agree with more, and I love the content that comes with!
I would absolutely have cut them some slack before they released 10+ sets in a year. It's obvious they chose profit over their promises, and this product was only the most recent example.
8:42 same, I bought 2 Premium Slivers deck for 30€ and I couldn't be more glad on having have done it, especially due to its actual price! That was a great product that I wish it would come back
20:50 this 2 minutes or so of speech embodies the love, care, humanity a one being could have: you, the Prof, loving M:tG, people, the community, the concept of "everybody grow, not just me myself selfishin' me", creating genuine excitement, passion and joy, seeing and hearing how much and how you DO feel and nourish Love, is ... warming, truly deeply warming, giving a bit of hope: You are inspiring and I strongly hope that more and more people will be inspired by people like you to having more and more care of others and "living being", like an "environment" like M:tG could be!
THANK YOU
my biggest problem with double sided tokens is that they are really frustrating to organize, I try to keep my tokens alphabetically so its ez to grab what anyone needs.
My solution is to keep the double sided ones seperate, and also in my closet to be forever forgotten except when I get more to throw into it. Recently I also bought those erasable token cards from card kingdom and just stopped using tokens all together.
I hate how hard they are to organize. I am thinking about just giving up on the double sided ones altogether because they just take so long to sort through to actually find what I'm looking for.
I bought this product a full year ago, waiting for when it would finally arrive. I bought sleeves and a deck box for it ahead of time, expectantly awaiting the arrival of my awesome new product! When it finally came, I carefully opened the package, and what did I find?! 10 of my 100 cards came damaged! Not shipping damage, no. The deckbox was placed in another cardboard box, then wrapped in bubble wrap, then placed in another cardboard box, then placed in the shipping box! There's no way it could have been the shipping. The cards had clear damaged to the edges and the corners, and one of the cards was even creased. I cannot express enough how disappointed I was, especially after I waited two full weeks for Secret Lair support to get back to me.
The issue isn't so much that it took a year. Lots of big projects take time to make. The issue is that in that year, WotC barfed out multitudes of sets, SLs, anniversary products, and commander decks, globally, with few delays. It really did feel like once they had our money, they were in no hurry to deliver
That gray box with an orange interior is TOTALLY my jam. I use cheap plastic boxes from the likes of Legion and Ultra Pro, but I might have to spluge on that Gamegenic. That peek of orange is the exact sort of subtle and in your face blend that I love.
WoTC was talking about people not knowing them at cocktail parties and being embarrassed about it
I’m proud of supporting you and your channel. In a world full of people willing to selling themselves to the highest bidder, it’s refreshing to know that there are still those who stand by their morals, and have an actual spine.
"I'm not a furry. Oh wait that says FURY."
BRUH LMFAOOOOOOO I'M DEAD 😂💀
This was a very nice video. I watch many of your critiques on things but this was the first of yours that I've seen as basically a stream of consciousness. I don't know if you have more videos like this but I would love to see more in the future.
Just wizards being wizards nowadays. I went from being angry to not caring which isn't good because I lost the love I use to have for this game
Getting back in to playing after a few years, holy crap those Kamigawa cards are STUNNING.
Yeah.
In some other card games, that's the norm not an exception.
@@BMoser-bv6kn I wouldn’t say it’s an exception in Magic either, there’s lots of really cool art 🤷🏼♀️
I wish all the cards had the same quality as timespiral remastered. That card stock was perfect
So glad that you work for us Prof! I don't buy anything whether it be cards, sleeves, or deck boxes before I look to see if you have a video on it!
You miscounted. That last mountain is your “bonus” card
Wow. A single basic land. Thank you, WotC, for that bonus.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege and we got either the full art mountain OR the full art island.
I really enjoyed listeng/watching this while I got some work done. Very calming. Felt like sitting with a friend while we each do our own work
Over a year and I'm still waiting. They didn't put my full address on the package and it was shipped back to the sender. Currently in contact with Wizards support to see if they can ship it back to the correct address. The thing is is I've ordered multiple SL products to this address with that account so I know for sure that my address was correct.
Watching this video... I just had the urge to say: I really respect you Professor, as a content creator, as a consumer advocate, and as a person. I can only hope to become as eloquent and understanding as you are one day. The good you have done for the community and for me personally cannot be overstated; even when I wasn't playing Magic for money or accessibility reasons, I kept on watching this channel and it's what keeps me in this game.
So thank you, and I'm glad I got to say this as I've never commented before. Happy holidays!!
Weird, my professor secret lair alarm didn’t go off.
Some things I would change with this product:
1. Make the "thank you card" a Treasure token on the other side (instead of blank), with custom artwork based on the Secret Lair with which it comes.
2. Make the coin heavier, akin to the first edition of Splendor: give it some heft while not spending too much on making them out of metal.
3. Provide a deckbox that can actually accommodate 100+ double-sleeved cards.
4. Lose the dial: if a player's life total goes above 40, the dial is useless anyway.
5. Keep the foil treatment for legendary creatures and planeswalkers that can be a commander for the deck, similar to the commander decks from 10 years ago.
“What’s the point if we buy?”
Pride in your work. Pride in the thing you’re creating.
Money > Dignity. That's the capitalist motto. Well, money over everything, but you get the point.
That might be, to some extent a thing motivating a lot of employees there because that's why they took the job over other jobs they'd be qualified to do in the first place, but executives are appointed by shareholders and what shareholders want is dividends and their stock prices to go up. They don't give a shit about quality. Some brokerage firm holding 3% of MTGs shares is going to vote to elect a board of directors that they believe will give them bigger returns.
This was a surprisingly therapeutic session, particularly the bit of the discussion about culling your collection and treating Magic as something you own and play your way. Felt like I was listening to Mr. Rogers or something.
You don't hate it, you're mourning the decline. I'm doing the same, but I had to cut and go. Still supporting the channel, hope to see more FAB content.
Cool "coin", you can use it as a slammer for your weekly competitive POG nights!
Prof is the GOAT
Paying his people what they’re worth
Prof, I enjoy these videos because it's like hanging out for a bit. Thank you.
Also, in regards to you businessman-ship-ness... yep.
Your business practices breed loyalty.
I truly do wish, more folks thought the way you do. This world would be a better place Sir.
I suggest a recount of your deck and match them up with the decklist. My full art land was an extra “101” card and I’m pretty sure that was the intention considering some get a mountain and others get an island.
What makes this video most impactful to me is to go back and watch his original video where he talks about the potential of this secret layer drop and how excited he was for the concept
I get the feeling that they're going to do this again and the quality, the delay could get worse.
I'm glad to see your positive attitude toward this product. I ordered one but when there was delay after delay, they wanted to charge my card with no delay end in sight. So I canceled the order. So your positive attitude toward this is fantastic, never change Prof.
I actually wish they would define what style of foiling this is cause while you don't like it this is my favorite style cause I hate foils.