mike

Richard Garfield blogs about the differences between a ranked ladder and tournaments for competitive play.

Recently I started playing a digital game. There was a tournament announced for the top players. Although I wasn’t a top player – the game was new enough and there was enough luck in the play that I thought maybe I could qualify, and so I started paying attention to my ranking.

Quickly I noticed that I was having less fun because I was no longer experimenting and trying new things – I was focusing on what I knew worked. I began to lean more heavily on what other people said was correct rather than finding my own way. Losses were setbacks rather than learning experiences. When I rose to a level that corresponded to my actual skill, I stalled. Then the games became more samey, with the players mostly playing similar styles. I noticed that I felt like a mediocre player even though I was in the top 10%.

The experience brought into focus and made personal some of the misgivings I have had about extensive player rankings in games. [...]

tylerja-blog asked:

"That’s the nature of Magic. It adapts to the needs of the collective whole. It used to upset me, but I came to realize it is one of the game’s greatest strengths. It becomes the game its players need/want it to be." Is to me, a market-friendly way to say "sloughs emotionally invested players in pursuit of the unremarkable, but widely palatable middle"

Many players like to assume the core of the people making the changes aren’t enfranchised players, but it’s exactly the opposite. Why, for example, is Universes Beyond so popular? Because the people who play the most Magic really adore it.

We’re not ignoring the hard-core Magic players, we’re doing what they say they most want through their actions and in market research.

Magic is a business. Ignoring our core customers would just be bad business.

We make changes because Magic players, and especially our hard-core enfranchised players, want it. Maybe in this particular case it’s not you in particular (or maybe it is, I don’t know), but it’s not us ignoring “emotionally invested players”.

izzipurrito asked:

I know this is a big ask, but...

Please no more direct to Modern sets.

If you guys must, at least make it so that it is Standard legal so it is Standard level in power.

Some distributors have posted their Aetherdrift order pages and revealed that starting with Aetherdrift, the booster boxes will have 30 packs instead of 36.

I believe it's been stated that the per pack MSRP will not change, meaning the overall box price will just go down accordingly by 1/6th.

A Duskmourn Play booster box is $138 on TCGPlayer, or $3.83 per pack. They are $4.25 when bought individually.

The new MSRP for Aetherdrift $5.50 per pack. If they keep the same price of $140 per box, that would work out to about $4.66 per pack when buying a box. And if they left it at 36 packs it would cost about $168 per box which I think everyone in the world realizes is just far too expensive to buy.

For fans of sudden victories, unexpected upsets, and comebacks that come out of nowhere, the 20 Ways to Win Commander deck is loaded with jaw-dropping win conditions that will leave your friends and foes speechless. Now, you'll never have to rely on old-fashioned ways of winning ever again! Featuring ten cards with brand-new artwork in dazzling rainbow foil, this 100-card Commander deck is ready to play (and win) right out of the box.

Hi Mark,

From one Marvel fan to another, what does the chance of getting access to the otherwise mechanically unique Secret Lair Marvel cards in a later product look like now after the feedback was passed on? Still low? Impossible?

All the unique mechanical cards from the Marvel Secret Lair will appear later in the same mechanical form, possibly with the same name, in some product.

Here are some of the biggest brained, 300 IQ Magic plays ever caught on camera!

Some great plays, some of these are more like "tricks" but all of them are really impressive and fun to watch.

The Professor gives us his thoughts on the recent Universes Beyond announcements.

cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/1034993

Now an update for @MTG_Arena! Pioneer Masters is coming December 10th 2024! Pioneer Masters brings many cards to MTG Arena for the first time as we work towards our goal of parity with competitive Pioneer in tabletop.

Now an update for @MTG_Arena! Pioneer Masters is coming December 10th 2024! Pioneer Masters brings many cards to MTG Arena for the first time as we work towards our goal of parity with competitive Pioneer in tabletop.

cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/1024695

Get 'em while they're hot!