So, after a while of going cold turkey for M:TG, I decided to go to my local comic shop and draft the Eternal Masters set. I wanted to get out of the house and interact with others. As I sat down at the designated table, I tried to talk to the other people there, until the draft finally started and we each got our 3 packs of cards. After I ripped open the cellophane to reach the arcane cardboard within, I pored over the beautiful artwork, reading each card’s individual effect, remembering why Magic was called “Cardboard Crack”. Then, I went to the back of the pack, in order to find the crown jewel of the pack: the single rare. For the uninitiated, the rare is (usually) the most powerful and valuable card in a pack of Magic cards. There are tons of rares in this set, each with different abilities, monetary values, and artwork. “Oh, man, what will I get?” I wondered as I went past the commons and uncommons.” I hope it’s a Sensei’s Divining Top, or a Sylvan Library! Or” I fantasized “maybe even a Wasteland!” Imagine my surprise, then, when I pulled not a Top, Library, or even a Wasteland, but a Mana Crypt, a mythic rare.
To put things in perspective, mythic rares, in this set, have a 1/8 chance of appearing instead of a regular rare. They tend to be powerful, and their names are usually awe-inspiring (Furyborn Hellkite, anyone?) They also tend to be extremely valuable, and Mana Crypt was no exception. Going at $90 at the time of writing, I let out an audible gasp, drawing the attention of every other draftee. “Let me guess: you got something good?” one of them asked. I simply said “Mana Crypt”, and the air was soon filled with cheers of “nice!” and “aw, lucky!” THAT is what Magic is about: unbridled joy, whether you get a good card, or win a match. That’s why the competitive scene has been thriving for quite some time now. Of course, Hasbro (owners of Wizards of the Coast, who design the cards), in a fit of utter stupidity, decided “Let’s not reprint any cards that could use reprints, allowing the second-hand market to price gouge them to a ridiculous extent, causing players to spend even more money in order to build viable decks! Goblin Guide? Nope! Auriok Champion? Are you high? Liliana of the Veil? Get outta here! Instead, we’ll reprint complete and utter garbage that doesn’t see any play, whether casually or competitively. Everyone will love the fact that Worldgorger Dragon (it’s not as good as it sounds) takes up a mythic slot, which could easily be replaced by more deserving cards! Also, let’s make Eternal Masters hard to find, meaning that stores will raise the prices on these already costly packs! It’s foolproof!” *cue people ranting on the internet about Hasbro’s greed*. The point I’m trying to make is, Hasbro is doing downright stupid things when it comes to reprints of rare cards. For every Wasteland, there’s ten Crater Hellions, for every Karakas, twenty Worldgorger Dragons. It’s crazy and stupid. Remember how I said that MOST mythics were good and valuable? Yeah, well, not all of them are, and Hasbro is choosing these specific cards to be reprinted in a set that talks about being able to get players valuable cards for their Vintage decks, Vintage being an EXTREMELY competitive format, with deck costs going into the thousands. It’s almost as if Hasbro doesn’t care about their playerbase, instead focusing on maximizing profits, and a lot of us Magic players are sick of it. Now, I’m not asking for Power Nine reprints. I’m simply asking that the rares be, you know, rare cards, and not trash that was reprinted in a previous set. At the very least, make the mythics valuable ones, so that we don’t get pissed off when we get a Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Doing these things would make your customers happy, making them more likely to purchase your products. It’s a win-win!
TL;DR Hasbro has let greed overtake them, reprinting horrible cards instead of good and valuable ones, ruining this fun game. Reprinting good cards would remedy this issue. Just don’t go overboard!
theunknowngamerblog 