Douglas Scheinberg has an itch, and only Wizards can scratch it. However, initiating a boycott is not the way to address the Magic money sink. Boycotts have been called for in the smoking industry for years; smokers know that they are spending too much money to damage their health and take on a social stigma. Magic also costs too much money. It can damage health (the fire danger of your commons box, your girlfriend when she finds out how much you just spent for paper, and who can pay for health insurance when paying so much for cards?). It often even creates a social stigma.
Such a boycott would call for us to devalue something that we want - regardless of whether or not it is for (perceived) moral grounds. Regardless of whether it's called for by completely viable reasons, it's unlikely that such an event would ever cause Wizbro to change their tune. Generally, the only thing that makes a boycott succeed is a moral wrong being committed continuously. Making too much money does not fit the bill - after all, materialism is the American Way.
Wizards appears to be following Truman's motto: Speak softly and carry a big stick. A call to arms for Magic players to fight Wizards with their pocketbooks will hurt players far more than it will Wizards. Wizards can keep their mouth shut for far longer (e.g., cheating allegations, banning cards) than players can control their addiction to the game. Again, look at the smoking industry. Boycotts have had little effect despite far greater ramifications for users. Magic can be just as addictive.
What is clearly needed are some fresh ideas. I don't feel like I have any say in what Wizards does as a company (and why would I? This is my first Magic article). However, I also don't feel that even the best-known Magic writers have much of Wizards ear - if any. Do I want to have a say? Would I be more interested in the game if even once one of my suggestions came to fruition? Would I feel a greater sense of pride or ownership when I turn my guys sideways?
HELL YES!!
No matter what cards are printed in a set, good Magic players will learn which cards win more games, and thereby value those cards above others. Making winning cards uncommon hurts Limited play - some cards need to be rare. However, in doing so, chase rares are created. No one wants to open a crap rare. At the same time, few have the money to pay an arm and a leg to buy four of each of the chase rares. Clearly an untenable - if not backbreaking- situation has been created for many players wishing not only to have some fun, but also to take the game to the next level and play in tournaments.
What must be done is to increase the availability of the chase cards. Douglas suggested that stores could be allowed to purchase rares in bulk from Wizards to be sold individually. Yes, this could hurt the collectors' market... But the supply and demand distribution scheme currently used demands it if anything is to be done to reduce card prices.
Stores could be allowed to purchase rares without too much trouble. One answer could be to give Wizards a month or two after the initial release to sell boxes the way they have been. After a set period of time, allow stores to buy individual cards in bulk. If not all cards, then perhaps only chase rares or cards chosen by an online poll, or by anyone who had entered a tourney or played Friday night magic. Such cards could have a unique symbol on them, indicating that they didn't come from boosters and therefore should perhaps be valued less (or more - certain crap rares might be purchased so infrequently as to create value for the unique symbol). Wizards wouldn't likely sell as many boxes in the long run, but perhaps tournament attendance would increase. Perhaps more people would be brought into the game that couldn't otherwise afford it (selling more boxes….).
If only certain chase cards are made more available (as opposed to all cards), it would be important for Wizards to provide advance notice of such cards so that collectors would have enough time to liquidate their product, lessening the impact of devaluing cards. There must be a price at which bulk rares could be sold at a profit to Wizards, while still allowing for collectors to profit as well. After all, the value of their on-hand cards will decrease, but with greater availability, they'll be able to sell many more cards - even if it is at a lower margin. More people will be able to play more tourney-viable decks. Some will even want to buy rares for different decktypes, allowing them more tourney options. This would strengthen the metagame (as long as R&D is keeping close watch) while keeping collectors happy.
Other suggestions for decreasing card prices while maintaining profits for collectors and Wizards:
Include chase cards from winning decks in preconstructed decks sold at midseason. Perhaps only make them available from playing Friday Night Magic?
Include one alternate art card with each box (not in the boosters, but separately in the box), increasing box sales.
Decrease the rarity of expensive cards while increasing the rarity of cheap cards (making certain rare cards more or less rare than others).
Reduce the"four each" maximum to two or three for certain cards that are known in R&D to be over-the-top strong. Specific cards could be printed that listed this in the text of the card. Careful note would have to be taken to not allow such cards to be broken in Limited or combo decks... But for the right card, perhaps this is an option. Perhaps an entire cycle of cards could be created around this mechanic. Fewer cards in the deck means increased availability of the card, reducing the cost while still keeping the card potentially strong.
Another writer suggested having more tournaments based on less-used cards. Great idea! Perhaps there could be a general Invitational tournament open to everyone (following the actual event) which utilized different blocks of cards or commons only or Type 1.5, etc. There are an immense amount of viable possibilities that could serve to increase the usable card base. Doing so could increase box sales, while deepening the card pool and making for a more fun and creative hobby.
Tournaments do not allow proxy cards. Perhaps a limited number of proxies (three or four?) could be allowed to be registered to replace those critical chase rares a player was not able to scrounge up at the last minute (or borrow from their loaded playtest buddy). At the very least, this would reduce the need to pay obscene amounts of money for needed cards the day of the tournament. It would also likely increase tournament participation. It may even make those who wouldn't otherwise participate play on the basis that they didn't have to pay $50+ chase rares - causing them to get together a deck and buy (cheaper) cards that they would not have otherwise.
I think that most players will agree that better prize support at lower levels is better than stratospheric top-end payouts. How many people do you know of that like to play Magic, but don't play in tournaments because they're not good enough and think that they won't come away with anything? These players are the icing on the tournament attendance cake... And thereby revenue. They make up part of the player base that supports the entire tournament structure. Why not give them something to play for? Why not give out a couple of random prizes at each tournament: A box of cards, a chase rare or even an alternate art foil - perhaps even prestamped with the tournament date, as is done with the cards given out at prereleases. Could that make these players more interested in attending? An online poll that allowed players to select these random prizes could also give all players the feeling of being involved.
Wizards needs to make available a place where player input can be displayed publicly and then needs to better publicly acknowledge this input. Otherwise, Wizards continues to look like just another greedy corporate money plunderer - getting away with anything they can scam the public out of and only responding to the largest of issues when it starts to eat away at their profit potential (fan base included). One way to begin this is to create a page on the Wizards website asking for ideas about how to make Magic better. Perhaps they could even list the top 10 suggestions each month on an online poll and have players pick the best idea. The first place in the poll gets a prize.
Send in your ideas! Then send in some more. If nothing else, Wizards will be forced to acknowledge that there are other options than simply money-gouging the public. Hopefully, there will be some creative people out there who can show Wizards how to make an extra buck for themselves and collectors while still lessening the burden for the Magic community at large.
Wizards, are you hearing any of this?
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