It's so wild to think that there are card games where reprints are seen as a potentially bad thing. Meanwhile in Yu-Gi-Oh, we can't get enough of them! I do think having a different border would be a cool way to distinguish reprints, but I just prefer different rarity styles instead.
@@reno2934 This exactly. Value for magic cards is determined by demand and supply like anything else. The people complain about value only because they want money back for the investment of buying a pack. I open packs only because it is fun, I want cards because I want to play with it. I will NEVER buy a card over $20, I will proxy the damn thing instead. I bought only one card over that, and it was a mistake. It was a mistake not because the card is not worth it (per se). It was because why am I paying so much for card board that I have zero intent of getting my money back on it. I was against proxy for myself for so long, but I finally decided I am ok with it because there are cards I just will not be able to play with it if I don't. The latest $1000 bull that WotC seal the deal with my view on proxy as well.
And it's nice to refresh your deck with jew carda after older ones have seen plenty of play. Honestly. These are games, not investment opportunities. Reprint away! Anyone tying up their retirement in trading cards is taking a major risk.
@@memnarch129 What sucks is that it's most likely not bad for Investors/Collectors. Most likely any hit prices might take would be temporary at most, as the rarity of the oldest sets and the power that holds would never ultimately go away. Also wanted to tell you I love Memnarch and dream of the day Myr take over the world.
You know what? Yes. Flesh and blood style reprinting would be incredibly helpful to the overall health of the game, and the originals would just become more sought after.
Flesh and Blood is really not a role model in this regard, looking at their reprint philosophy: "careful consideration will be made to the effect the reprint will have on the secondary card market". Really unfortunate.
@@williamholtzclaw3029 the ge won't survive without the investors buying boxes of cards to open to sell to the players who mostly buy singles. I'm personally going to buy like 3000 of the same pack trying for like 4 mythics
The crying from collectors back then made no sense to the local mtg community here at the time. There was almost nothing in Chronicles that had high prices at the time (the elder dragons were maybe 30 or so dollars?). WotC overreacted, overcorrected and screwed up royally.
Sometimes I wonder if they, people whom wotc initially made promise to, still care about the game today. Do they still buying the new products? Do they still show up at lgs? Do they still hang out to play somewhere?
Awkward honest Brian unfiltered is some of the best content on the channel IMO. Love ya Prof thanks for letting me keep track of a game that is very much part of my DNA long after the many attempts at a local LGS sadly failed and my lingering play group has fell apart due to schedules and life getting in the way and also a massive thank you for introducing me to many of the other current magic content creators through Shuffle up and Play, Dies to Removal and all your other collaborations.
I wish CCGs would take a hint from sports cards. 30th should have been $4/pack with high reprint rates, but throw in chase cards. Signed and numbered cards. Imagine if you could pull X/10 Black Lotus signed by Richard Garfield. Huge collectors piece right there. But they can also print tons of vanilla versions. Do this for everything. Make highly collectible cards in first printings and then make regular reprints for newer players and to bring down the cost of chase cards.
@@riffbw isn't that what collector boosters are doing with the foil full arts, they're the chase cards and the regular cards are now lower in price because of it..... I'm sure the prof did a video on that
I yearn for the alternate universe where WotC said "Why are you investing in a card game?" and MtG grew based on the quality of the game, unhindered by collectors
My ideal for card prices would be what sol ring is where playable versions dirt cheap but if desired you can get many fancy versions at many price points
Alpha Sol ring is still over $1000. The Kaladesh and Judge gift ones are hundreds of dollars. The Borderless and 40k collectors editions are $10-20. But because it’s in every commander precon, someone at your LGS will probably give you an extra one they have kicking around.
Honestly I think they're starting to get a bit better with it with the collectors printings. I have my issues with it, but charging silly prices for a pack of cards that are just fancy and foil versions of the standard packs feels like a better answer. It ring fences the "rare" printings, especially if those versions never get a reprint, while having more available versions of them to actually play with.
The first card shown is one of my favorite cards in magic. Indestructible Aura, a card that is not an aura, does not have nor confer indestructibility, and features one of the best pieces of magic art in history.
The List™ reprints are probably my favorite type of reprint I've seen. Besides how they're distributed, which I don't have an opinion on, I love that they keep the original expansion symbol and frame, but have a small marker denoting them as reprints. I don't know if there are people that hate that symbol, but I like how they put the card in its original time period, that feels right to me.
If I'm really looking to bling out a deck, The List logo really gets on my nerves but it's almost always the cheapest printing so I end up buying it. I just wish list cards were guaranteed in each pack like mystical archives were. Having a chance at a chance at getting a good list card sucks. I'd definitely be down for List only packs too. Might be a good way to do reprints consistently.
Exactly just reprint them and put a foil stamp on them on the bottom like the new cards have... Smh there's no reason they can't just reprint everything... It wouldn't hurt the value of anything... BoP has been reprinted how many times and the beta version is still crazy expensive.
I don't think the idea of white borders is to make them cheaper per se - rather the idea is to allow the original printings to maintain a collectability value outside of the gameplay value, much like how the legends printings of the elder dragons cost 200 times the chronicles versions. Right now the main demand is gameplay pieces so they will be almost the same price, but a few more reprints and another 5-10 years down the line, if the original printings are the only black border printings available, they could easily be a couple times the price.
I believe the lack of foils was to make it just as base gamepieces to allow players to play. If you want the fancy stuff you can go out of your way to get the singles. White border core sets were not all reprints and had original cards in them.
@@clashcitywannabe I meant the lack of foils in flesh and blood. I know my comment does kinda garble together a bit I should've made that a bit more clear.
I agree! Let the white borders be exactly that, base game pieces. Let the chase foils, first editions, and promo cards raise in price over time. Those that want the big flash can chase, those that just want to play the game can get the Historic Pack Vol X and enjoy the game.
"White border core sets were not all reprints and had original cards in them." Not sure I'm following. White border sets in MtG have always been 100% reprints (unless you count Portal) and the same is true for FAB so far. But maybe that's what you've meant?
I’d love more reprints, but I don’t see how they would make the originals more sought after. They’d probably make them much less sought after, since some of the people who want the cards don’t care if they’re original or not. Those people are currently in the same camp as the ones who _do_ want the originals. If they get reprinted, that camp will shrink.
I had to pause this to say, watching you open those new white border FAB cards really made me smile. White border just looks amazing in some games, and FAB is one of them.
With FaB's distinctive card frames, the white borders look a lot better than I thought they might. My collection is entirely black border and heavily foiled so History Pack isn't the product for me, but it's a nice product. Part of the reason it's in white border without foils is to help protect the investment I and other players have made in the older printings. HP1 includes a selection from the first three sets of FaB, all of which are technically out of print but still reasonably available in the US. They did also print a black bordered version of HP1 in four other languages, and those boxes include some special cards and treatments that the white bordered product doesn't. You can get rainbow foil copies of the three Fabled rarity cards and double-sided cold foil copies of the original 8 heroes. HP2 will come out in another year or two and will include a selection of cards from the next three sets of FAB, all of which are still _heavily_ available so there's not much of a need for it yet.
I love that Flesh and Blood does the History packs - I personally really like white borders and am very happy to see that they dont get chase foil version, its simple the card at its very base form and that is what the game needs. Let the chase foils, the first editions, and promo cards cost the big money and let the white border versions be readily available.
I've recently gotten into Yu-Gi-Oh!. One of the things I really appreciate is that there's a lot of staple cards that are available in both common and higher rarities, with a lot of what feels like targeted reprints specifically for the purpose of not necessarily driving the price of a card down, but rather to increase its availability. I've been playing since the beginning of the year. Since then, two structure decks came out. Both of them had quite a few reprints that can be slotted into pretty much any deck. And it also makes commercial sense. Take for example the first 2022 structure deck, Albaz Strike. With reprints like Effect Veiler, Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, Dark Ruler No More, Called by the Grave, Pot of Extravagance, buying three of the structure deck just to get playsets of these staples is a good value proposition even if you aren't interested in the rest of the deck.
There's a homely and intimate feeling when people get to talk unfiltered and unscripted. You main videos have a lot of polish, but these are so much fun!
I really like how flesh and blood keeps the prices down. At my LGS, we often have casual blitz nights where you just bring any blitz deck but you can proxy the equipment, and everyone is fine with that
7:35 yes exactly, the only art that stands out anymore are the unique styles like Seb McKinnon or Rebecca Guay. Take War of the Spark for example. Almost every card in the set looks like it was painted/drawn by the same artist which makes 99% of them just blend together.
@@michaelatbarnett Brutes are a blast to play and with card names like "Smash with Big Tree" whats not to love? Rhinar is cool too because he removes cards from his opponent's hand making it very difficult to block his big damage attacks.
Ninjas are rad in Flesh and Blood. Most characters will manage to pull off 2‐ 3 attacks a turn, ninjas can basicly double that. Now the attacks usually do less damage, but you're greatly rewarded for playing cards in specific orders and moments during your turn. Doing this often gives your attack a damage boost or on-hit trigger.
I personally really like the unscripted videos. For those of us who like you, professor, it sort of makes it feel like we are just sitting across from you having a chat. Rather than educational its more like an atmospheric, reassuring sort of thing.
One thing I noticed is the chronicles kept their set symbol where as new reprints have their corresponding set symbol. The expansion a card comes from, regardless of similar art can also impact the price, but white bordered would impact it probably more so
Ha, I just finished my white border commander deck (with Xira Arien as a commander) the thing I liked best about building this deck is that I know there will be no new cards coming out that make me need to change my deck. And if the whole deck is white border, it looks damn cool 😄
@@GetTooasted do it 😄 it won’t be as powerful as modern decks, but it’s so much fun for casual play, especially if everybody plays a white border deck.
@@SSolemn I didn’t know that to do as a theme for my deck at first, but now my theme is ‘tap abilities’. 😂 lots of creatures that do something when you tap them.
I can't lie I love these kinds of vids. Just cracking packs and talkin about stuff. It's enjoyable. Makes me think of the times at the lgs just doing that
I love seeing FaB content on this channel! History pack was an interesting experience. When it was announced everyone thought the cards would be significantly cheaper due to low demand. And would help bring down the cost of staples like Command And Conquer and Spring Tunic. Howeverz the printerun was so small, that these cards ended up being harder to get than the originals. And so they were actually listed for higher prices than the black border Versions, which was pretty crazy. I'm happy to see that over time, the market corrected itself and these are now more affordable versions, though, not quite to the extent that we originally thought they would be.
@@WangerZ3291 they actually just announced a new reprint set for digimon that looks like it's going to have alot of the important chase cards. Now let's see if it ever makes it state side.
@@2Eliishere that's the thing, we can't assume the fact it'll be coming internationally. A few other concerns: how often they'll do it? With the 86/132 being reprints, which sets (barring promos) will be included?
@@WangerZ3291 I mean all of the reprints have come stateside in some way or another. It just so happens that alot of those ways (box top promos) are dog shit garbage ways to actually get those cards into peoples hands.
I think Sol Ring is a great example of how over printing a card can be healthy for a format, lower market prices to get your hands on the card, and allows special printings of the card to keep their value. Sol Ring is in every single commander product and can be bought on the secondary market for around a buck. But certain printings of it that are foil or have specific art range from hundreds of dollars to thousands. WotC shouldn't be afraid of reprints because it only encourages more people to buy into and play the game. And we have the market data to concretely prove that old printings maintain their value overtime, despite reprints. Look at Shivan Dragon! The reserve list is total nonsense. If every single card on it was reprinted, prices may dip slightly but will ultimately rebound because certain printings are just more sought after than others. The biggest issue with removing the reserve list is how long its remained. These cards have gone so long without reprints that if you tried to print them into the ground, any product containing them would sell out instantly and would destabilize the market for a good while. Wotc have really painted themselves into a corner. Every day the reserve list exists, the more destructive its removal would be. The sooner we rip off that bandaid, the better.
These cards are gorgeous, that goblin shrine is amazing, even nowadays with all the "special edition" and premium borders they're all just re-colors of the same border unlike the classic frame where each color had a distinct personality.
That's not entirely true: I agree that the old borders have more personality (and are move obvious about it), but the new borders are different for each of the colours too.
I still have a ton of Chronicles cards in my collection and I use the white border cards whenever possible in decks. I was also in highschool during the early days of magic and the nostalgia is strong!
If I were creating a new TCG, I would state up front that any card is always fair game to be reprinted. It might have different art, or a different foil treatment, or some promo stamp, or any other visual/aesthetic change so that collectors can differentiate them and put premiums on the older ones if that matters to them. But access to game pieces would always come first.
That's essentially what James White has said about Flesh and Blood. They aim to never release a reprint that is cooler or more desirable than the first printing coil-foil version, but that they'll reprint cards players want/need. Which sort of protects the secondary market while also saying we'll reprint whatever we need to keep the player community healthly and happy.
honestly, original printing with black border and subsequent printings in white border sounds like the best way to do it. Keeps the original a collectors item worth money, while providing game pieces. And, unless something changed, because there are companies that make inner sleeves with a variety of colored border overlays its not like you can't coordinate your decks appearance anyway. Win/win, imo.
history pack vol 1 was mainly created for foreign players in spanish, german, french and italien. the english version could have waited another couple of years tbh, there is an abundance of unlimited product around, which is great since new players join daily... the price difference in my eyes is miniscule, id rather get the black border for a couple of dollars more
I'm with you on the white border reprints of historic Magic cards. Most of the top tier cards are priced way out of the range of the average player, reprinting a "Playset" version with white (or other color) border cards would mean that more players can get their hands on cards, which would mean more players at tables in LGS's. Black Border cards can be collectables or "flex" cards to show off.
"Wizards of the Coast never did a set like [Chronicles] - not until 2013 when the first Modern Masters was printed in very cautious limited supply *and* at an MSRP of $6.99 per pack" Ah yes, the good old days of 9 years ago, when Wizards releasing a $6.99 booster pack (and that supply was limited enough that the street price was more like $10) was scandalous. Hard to believe that, less than one decade later, they'd be selling FAKE Magic cards in $250 booster packs.
In terms of recent memorable art: I've got to give it to Wesley Burt for The Wanderer in War of the Spark. The Japanese version is also very good but I think the contrasting colors on the English version really make it special. Great content, Prof! I just wanted to add an art highlight.
He actually pulled nearly $50 of value between the Teklo core and the enlightened strike. If he bought a case(4boxes), he’s definitely getting value out of it.
Just so you know prof, I don't play Flesh and Blood. I wish I could afford to because you've sold it to me and I respect you a great deal. However; even though I don't really pay attention to the game, I still LOVED hearing you just talk. It was a great listen, and hearing your absolute joy at cards for reasons other than monetary values was lovely.
Fortunately Flesh and Blood is very cheap if you want to try it out. LGS's sometimes have Ira Welcome decks which are supposed to be given out for free to people who want to try it. If that's not an option look into the commoner format, it's FaB's equivalent to pauper. You can make a pretty competitive commoner deck for less than $20.
I never heard anyone complaining about Chronicles reprints back in the day...then again, the internet wasn't a thing back then. You had to get all of your Magic content from Scry and Inquest magazines. It was a great time to play as there wasn't much "net decking" happening because there was no "net".
I remember for sure those magazines. I actually sent in a paragraph about how wizards printing 4 sets a year was too often and Inquest put my words in their opinion column :) “sets come out faster than I can eat my bologna sandwich” how naive I was…
To be honest, I love these unscripted (or partially unscripted) videos, especially when you open packs or do something else while talking. It reminds me of when I went to my lgs and talked with my friends who were older than me and already played modern while I coudn't afford a deck. They would play against each other, open packs, trade, while I bugged them with questions and we chatted. It's a nice feeling, reminds me of simpler times :)
Honestly, if WotC just released a product called "History of the Multiverse 1" as a reprint set, and for this set they would include shock lands, fetch lands, and other cards like lightning bolt, arcbound ravager, at white border... it would be awesome. Put it at an affordable box price too, with $3-$4 booster packs... and the set wouldn't be limited print run, either. WotC needs to take a hint from FaB. We can only take their abuse for so long
I really like the flawless, no-cut-transition from your introduction, to your card opening! It's just a small detail, but it shows, that you present it and talk without a big script or something alike!
Aside from the dual lands, if I could have one thing come off the Reserved List, it would be Sliver Queen. I just want to replace just one of the ones I lose back in the day. Absolutely incredible proxy aside that a good friend made for me, it is the one hole in my Sliver collection.
Wow, I just looked up Sliver Queen and just the regular version is $300. That's insane. If foils and whatnot of a card are that expensive, fine whatever. But it's not like we're talking about Power 9 or something that will break formats. It's Sliver Queen. It's pretty much JUST a casual card. Absolutely mindblowing they wouldn't reprint it.
I got one years ago cheap off a friend but even then she was like only 45 tops and when I quit for like 3 years I still never gave her away cus if I ever wanted to rebuild slivers she would be too pricey
All of mine were from packs I'd opened at the time, but lost everything in a basement flood and left the game before Urza's Saga dropped. I briefly came back in the Onslaught block when Slivers came around again and I decided if I couldn't have my Queens anymore, I at least wanted Overlords. Then was gone again til Ravnica so I was already in it for Wave 3 and the Legion 😄
you're spot on with regards to new magic art, in my opinion. The illustrations we remember the most are pieces by Guay or Hamm.. Pieces by artists whose style is unique and recognisable and doesn't get lost in the "artstation blockbuster movie/videogame concept art" style that seems to be so popular with WOTC.
"I'm gonna monetize something stupid" - This could be said about a lot of things, but I don't think the Flesh and Blood segment is stupid. Ramble content is nice to see, at least in my opinion
I love white border cards with the modern desing in MTG. It make it so appealing, so elegant. But talking about the cards design i love the design before the 8th edition, it was very atmospheric. And talking about atmospher and memorable, i do have a colection of cards of my favorite illustrators: Terese Nielsen, Paolo Parente, Rebeca Guay, Robert Bliss, Tony DiTerlizzi, Carl Critchlow. Oh boy, those were THE cards that could transport you deeply into the atmosphere of the game. I started playing Magic on 8th edition and my first deck was Sky slam. Oh boy what a deck. My favorite card of all times is Unsummon. Such many combat tricks you can make with that card. And that card was even more powerful when damage used to go to the stack. Now they made a new unsummon with steroids XD add a Scy 1 to the formula. So sweet card... i only have one copie of it. I just returned to play for Kamigawa, just from time to time in arena. The design of the cards in the last year, i must say is really well done. I can make some combat tricks again.
I echo your thoughts on not liking the idea of making reprints less valuable or sought after, but I also don't think it's the worst idea ever, and it's far better than nothing. Also, my insane take is that I kind of like some of these cards better with the white border than the original black lol. I'm genuinely considering picking up a bunch of white border cards for my Runeknight deck because I just love how the art pops on those borders.
The only weird thing about the History packs in FAB is how early they came out, you can still find Welcome to Rathe in a lot of shops and the supply of commons and rares for those sets aren't really in short supply. They also didn't significantly up the draw rates for Legendaries which is the main reason those legendaries were so expensive. So you have roughly the same chance of getting a Tunic in HP as you do in WTR and the one in WTR is foil black border. On the other hand the Arcane Rising and Crucible of War legendaries were getting up in price and the stock was getting bought up so the HPs did help drag down the price of Legendaries from Arcane Rising in particular. LGSs also didn't get many of these, I think something like 4-6 BOXES per store which is also why it didn't really flood the market with new reprints. But the HP sets will presumably be around for a good long while so those cards will always be somewhat available.
HP in NA not only lets us know what to expect once/if UNL dries up, but it's mostly just to onboard stores that arent already carrying the game. Requiring a store who's newly dipping their toes into the product to buy multiple cases of multiple sets is a tall ask.
Reprints I believe are a good idea so people like me who started late could experience the history of the game. Along with the fun experience of simply building unlimited decks. Butz there should definitely be some sort of significant change in those reprints for the purpose of collecting and, maintain the games history
Old Magic artwork is much better in my opinion. It's the same thing with Yu-Gi-Oh! for me. The original art is so iconic and "pops!" out at you, making the card memorable. Lord of D., Blue Eyes, Pot of Greed to name a few. So iconic. Modern Magic cards are of much higher quality, but it all looks so generic in my opinion. I don't get a connection to the card, which is important to me.
Your unscripted conversations always feel so cozy and nice. I listen to them later in the evening and it's perfect and I appreciate it. Reminds me of the time I ran into you and Vince and we all chatted on the way back to the Seattle GP. Remember GPs?
I did a lot of my playing on UNL, Revised, 4th, so I like the look of white borders, but I also played a lot of the original black-border expansions, so they always look more prestigious to my eye.
When i think about reprint price drops, I just think about Tarmogoyf and how it withstood reprint price dives for years, because it was a card that was being played so much. Theres obviously a point at which you're reprinting something too much, but I think theres much more space for reprints than WOTC or LSS let there be
This effect is why the og duals and fetches cannot really become affordable, demand is depressed due to supply limits, and if they started seriously reprinting them prices would spike until market saturation occurred (which might never happen).
@@ZefulStarson That's not really what would happen. The main bottleneck on those cards is supply, and the reserve list. If WotC spoiled a reprint of them, prices would tank as people "and speculators" freaked out. It may spike a few times as tons of people buy it, but if the reprint is decent and not just in a secret lair or something, it would lower the price
@@lukestorm4566 Fetches are essentially mandatory to any deck running more than 2 colors in most formats and in many 2 color decks they reprent additional copies of your best dual. Sure, the price might dip due to concerns about reprints, but once that wears off the unthrottling of demand will drive the price up. Prices will only start to decline when the supply of cards outstrips demand which could potentially never happen as the new availability might result in more players joining formats where fetches are necessary causing demand to grow alongside the growth in supply. The original duals are only slightly better in that the most popular format they are legal in is commander which is a singleton format. But that only waylays the issue as commander is the most popular format for magic currently so there would be a lot of untapped demand.
I haven't really gotten into FaB yet, but from an outside perspective Spring Tunic is the only card that I actually can name off the top of my head, so to me it seems like it might be the Black Lotus of the game
ok let me preface this, i built an CC iyslander deck from scratch recently Spent less than $1k, roughly about $540 SGD for an competitive build (including RF Tunic, RF Coronet, RF Storm Striders, RF Alluvion, 3 E.strikes,etc) thats like waaayyyyy cheaper than an MTG modern (heck even an CEDH deck, which i have 3 (Winota, Yuriko, Malcom). Really gotta give the good job well done sticker to LSS to keep the game pieces cheap.
I love that you're you doing more Flesh and Blood content. I've been playing for 9 months now and it's been so much fun. I was already considering completely abandoning Magic due to how much more I like FaB, but Hasbro's growing greed pushed me over the edge. I'm glad to see you giving the game some airtime and helping to grow the FaB community at the same time that players are leaving Magic and looking for an alternative.
I really like the idea of white borders and I don't view it as printing an inferior product but rather doing anything but that to achieve the goal of creating more affordable game pieces. White border cards are just as good, with just as nice artwork, as their black border counterparts, but if the white border means that they will be any cheaper than they otherwise would have been I think it makes it a more successful product. I really like the point about including foils or special treatment cards in the set though to increase the incentive to open packs. In Europe we actually have a limited print run black border version of History Pack 1 in non-english languages to make up for the fact, that the original products were not nearly as easy to get a hold of here and they also include super rare special treatment versions of the original 8 heros, as well as reprints of the first three fableds. Even though those cards are all in black border and also limited in print run the cheapest version of any given card from the first three flesh and blood sets is always from the foreign black border reprint and while I do believe that the non-english lenguage plays a part, I do think the increased incentive to rip packs of this set also plays a major role
I think the white border idea for FaB is great, but I think another concept that is great for prices is their cold foil policy, where a cold foil version of a card will never be reprinted. Managing card prices is a very thin line to balance. Local game stores make very little money off most tcg sealed boxes. If cards are too cheap, no one buys boxes, and your favorite local store could go out of business. If cards are too expensive, it might hurt the players trying to play the game. I think cold foils help both the players and the collectors. Want to just play the game with game pieces? Great, the regular version isn't very expensive because people are chasing the cold foil. Want to be a collector or speculate on investment? Grab a cold foil or enjoy the hunt cracking packs for one.
History pack makes sense but it was too soon. There is still plenty of unlimited available for the first 3 sets. Yes, eventually that supply will dwindle but until then there wont be a large amount of history pack being cracked which is why the prices of white borders to the UNL black border cards isn't very large. As UNL supply dry up more history packs will be opened and the price gap will become clearer.
You're right, with time the prices will make sense. That's why they aren't bothering with an English History Pack 2. I'm sure it'll be a thing eventually when we need it, but for now it will just be in alternate languages to help grow worldwide appeal.
I have recently pulled the trigger on an itch I have had for a few years now and have delved into the 93/94 oldschool mtg format. White border cards are a god send. I also grew up with 7th ed as my first set so I have a fondness to the white bordered cards. Seeing F&B do this makes me want to play this game even more now.
FaB is really worth trying the game is fun and different, more hero-centric! I highly recommend getting a few blitz decks and playing against friends, switching decks and get a feel for the game and the hero you want to play.
So we have had: the mystic archive of strixhaven The artifacts of brothers war, I don't remember them doing any treatment for land, enchantments and creatures... So only a matter of time. I personally believe those styles of special printings are the place for reprinting
Zendikar had the Expeditions, too bad they weren’t in every pack instead of just being a Box Topper (Zendikar Rising) or only in one out of every 100+ packs (Battle for Zendikar block).
There are two reasons I don't play MtG. 1. I already play a TCG and don't feel like learning a new one. 2. I already play a TCG and don't have the income to own cards of a second one. This weird, silly predicament where some relevantly played cards now cost hundreds and most of the money from that doesn't directly trickle back ot WotC anyways to my understanding- its one of the reasons why TCGs trend towards hostile for new players. Yes, I can understand the rationale behind it. But y'know what? I've never looked at YGO's aggressive reprint policy and been like "I wish more cards were at staple prices due to limited supply, really the issue here is that I have too much capital left over after buying into the product" like cmon bruh
I love History Pack 1. It brought many commonly used game pieces back into LGS's in my city, and gave us some slightly cheaper Majestics and Legendaries so that more players has the game pieces they needed. I hope they continue to do this going forward. I wish Magic would do this without the inflated price tag associated with reprint sets. I'd even take white border without foils (Pringles) if it meant making magic decks more affordable.
Correct there's no uncommon rarity, but they have 2 rare slots per pack with one of them being an ancillary slot that the rarity can be upgraded to majestic and above depending on the set/pack layout.
I know this is primarily a MTG channel, but could I ask for a Shuffle Up and Play of you playing other card games? Flesh and Blood, Digimon, even Yugioh I feel would be fun one offs. Especially if it's not meta, just people having a good time.
FWIW I like your off-script videos, it's nice to just hear you chat about your thoughts. I enjoy the way Cardfight does it. For supporting older formats they print dedicated products on a schedule that are about 50% needed reprints and 50% new cards for the format. For the premier (non-rotating standard) format they do "masterpiece"-like cards, so base-rarity singles don't tend to creep past $20-$30. Many decks are cheap to build and competitive at locals. It honestly makes me miss the masterpiece days of Magic. I never opened one myself, but many of my friends did. It was also the last time I played standard MTG since it was so affordable.
An interesting aspect of FaBs History Pack was that it also coincided with foreign language printing becoming available. The non-english HP1 cards are actually black bordered, and do include marvel version of hero tokens (double sided, cold foiled, with one side being full art)
I never comment on this subject...but I think the real problem is it's TOO LATE. I agree with what you're saying but it's like the toothpaste thing. Too much money has been spent all these years by high level consumers collecting cards and to nuke their collection value would likely do more harm than good to eco system. Wizards knows this and in addition they're making a fortune as things are.
this is a really enjoyable video to watch, Prof just rambling on about a topic, sometimes wandering off trial, which I dont even mind. all while cracking some packs
As a yugioh player the reserve list is actually disgusting. We have cards reprinted all the time, but we have so many rarities to choose from that our “whales” don’t care. If our most powerful cards were constantly never reprinted, then the game would have died years ago. The fact Magic relies on draft is a saving grace, but alienates those who want to try and win at a GP event or equivalent.
Reserve list is bad but yugiohs reprint policy isnt the best either. Things get short printed and sometimes the cards don't get reprinted until they've been power crept
this! I came from yugioh and I always compare magics reprints to the mega tins from yugioh where they reprint most of the best stuff from that year in various rarities. maybe not apples to apples since in yugioh different rarities get different foils but it wouldnt be that hard for magic to do.
Unscripted Professor is the best. I don't even mean in a meme way its legitimately really refreshing to see it and even though you say you hate it, it really does suit you!
As an early adopter of EDH who eventually turned to throwing unopened product on a shelf, I don't understand how paper magic brings in new players. It is amazingly cost prohibited at this point. Any old EDH deck I have sitting around is probably at least $500. That is just because the sheer amount of desirable cards for the format cannot be printed down.
I Was playing when chronicles came out. I was SO happy when it came out. Urza lands and elder dragons were awesome. All of my friends were super happy to be able to play the cards. What a stupid decision to make the reserved list over reprinting the (by today standards) bad cards. lol. They should have just printed not limited edition beta, with idk purple borders or something no small print run, 10$ a pack. Buy all you want. And that would be fine. People would be happy. I'd probably drop 1k on boxes to draft and collect easily.
Also, for those of you who don't play Flesh and Blood, at 28:49, Prof opened a Bloodsheath Skeleta. It's the most powerful equipment ever printed. It's banned in both Blitz and CC. It enabled a turn 2 OTK build in a certain deck. Prof basically opened a FaB timewalk in white border. I love both games, but FaB's reprints are spectacular
I think that box was trying to nudge you into playing Runeblade lol, though it’s a shame Skeleta is banned in both formats currently. I certainly don’t mind white borders personally, it actually looks good on a lot of FaB cards. I also like how the majority of cards you’d typically run in a FaB deck are cheap commons and rares, and a lot of the majestics even are pretty cheap compared to a lot of playable mythic or even rare mtg cards.
When I had heard about the reserved list, just as I was getting into Magic, I was confused until I heard that it was to be used in a not so much banned but more now not the best time for the card to see mass availability. When they changed how it worked, it broke me that some cards would become just collector pieces. Then I started brewing for EDH/Commander. I have at times become very pissed that reserved list has stayed in place for so long. Chronicles only got reprinted as much as it did because of Legends's shortfall. I find it to this day an interesting look into the "what happens when.." mind set. History Pack is just about making sure the staples are available for newcomers, just like Chronicles. But just like Renaissance did for Europe, HP1 is black border in the new languages. This goes to show that the White border was never the issue with the revised/3rd-9th core sets either. The other nice feature of the white border is that is does save ink in the long run.
Love the unscripted thoughts, prof. It’ll feel less awkward once you get more under your belt. The community already loves you, this is just a great way for us to enjoy your authenticity
pokemon has the "cards should have value problem" buying a booster pack is always a waste because only like 10 cards in a set cost more than $10 and they're only alt arts. You can buy the best cards in a set for like $50 total
It's so wild to think that there are card games where reprints are seen as a potentially bad thing. Meanwhile in Yu-Gi-Oh, we can't get enough of them! I do think having a different border would be a cool way to distinguish reprints, but I just prefer different rarity styles instead.
its only bad for people trying to make money of it not play it, nobody who plays the game cares they just want cheaper cards.
@@reno2934 This exactly. Value for magic cards is determined by demand and supply like anything else. The people complain about value only because they want money back for the investment of buying a pack. I open packs only because it is fun, I want cards because I want to play with it. I will NEVER buy a card over $20, I will proxy the damn thing instead. I bought only one card over that, and it was a mistake.
It was a mistake not because the card is not worth it (per se). It was because why am I paying so much for card board that I have zero intent of getting my money back on it. I was against proxy for myself for so long, but I finally decided I am ok with it because there are cards I just will not be able to play with it if I don't. The latest $1000 bull that WotC seal the deal with my view on proxy as well.
And it's nice to refresh your deck with jew carda after older ones have seen plenty of play.
Honestly. These are games, not investment opportunities. Reprint away! Anyone tying up their retirement in trading cards is taking a major risk.
@@reno2934 Exactly. Reprints are bad for the INVESTOR/COLLECTOR they are not bad for the Gamer/Player.
@@memnarch129 What sucks is that it's most likely not bad for Investors/Collectors. Most likely any hit prices might take would be temporary at most, as the rarity of the oldest sets and the power that holds would never ultimately go away. Also wanted to tell you I love Memnarch and dream of the day Myr take over the world.
You know what? Yes. Flesh and blood style reprinting would be incredibly helpful to the overall health of the game, and the originals would just become more sought after.
The fact you call it flesh and blood style when they lifted directly from MTG makes it clear white border should have never gone away, in my opinion.
Flesh and Blood is really not a role model in this regard, looking at their reprint philosophy: "careful consideration will be made to the effect the reprint will have on the secondary card market". Really unfortunate.
@@LeftyPT it's called "flesh and blood style" because magic players cried like babies when WotC did it
@@sandwichboy1268 did magic *players* do that, or was it just investors
@@williamholtzclaw3029 the ge won't survive without the investors buying boxes of cards to open to sell to the players who mostly buy singles. I'm personally going to buy like 3000 of the same pack trying for like 4 mythics
The best part of white border for me was using them in white sleeves to give it that borderless look at a glance.
absolute KINO
Very cool!
I like white border lands to make searching the deck quicker
@@Toteke Even better is you can sharpie the white borders as the color of the land to make it even quicker.
Except white sleeves suck because you can't use double-faced cards with them.
Chronicles was planned as a regular reprint product, but thanks to some who cried out loud we got the reserve list instead…
Eff those people who got us into this mess.
The crying from collectors back then made no sense to the local mtg community here at the time. There was almost nothing in Chronicles that had high prices at the time (the elder dragons were maybe 30 or so dollars?). WotC overreacted, overcorrected and screwed up royally.
Sometimes I wonder if they, people whom wotc initially made promise to, still care about the game today.
Do they still buying the new products? Do they still show up at lgs? Do they still hang out to play somewhere?
Chronicles was so disappointing as we'd been led to believe we'd get high end stuff. Not so much.
@@theremy-levelup they were never players. You’re describing the he collectors
Awkward honest Brian unfiltered is some of the best content on the channel IMO. Love ya Prof thanks for letting me keep track of a game that is very much part of my DNA long after the many attempts at a local LGS sadly failed and my lingering play group has fell apart due to schedules and life getting in the way and also a massive thank you for introducing me to many of the other current magic content creators through Shuffle up and Play, Dies to Removal and all your other collaborations.
This was a better magic 30th anniversary celebration than the 1000 you'd get for proxies
I wish CCGs would take a hint from sports cards. 30th should have been $4/pack with high reprint rates, but throw in chase cards. Signed and numbered cards. Imagine if you could pull X/10 Black Lotus signed by Richard Garfield. Huge collectors piece right there. But they can also print tons of vanilla versions.
Do this for everything. Make highly collectible cards in first printings and then make regular reprints for newer players and to bring down the cost of chase cards.
@@riffbw isn't that what collector boosters are doing with the foil full arts, they're the chase cards and the regular cards are now lower in price because of it..... I'm sure the prof did a video on that
@@mrstizzle9049 But that's collector sets only. It does nothing for cycles and core sets.
@@riffbw every set has collectors boosters now tho
I yearn for the alternate universe where WotC said "Why are you investing in a card game?" and MtG grew based on the quality of the game, unhindered by collectors
I loved watching the Prof fumble to open a booster box for 30 seconds, very relatable
True content
prof tricking me into watching a flesh and blood box opening and I'm here for it
I love Prof's improvised monologue slowly slipping into an existential crisis
Have my thumb!
My ideal for card prices would be what sol ring is where playable versions dirt cheap but if desired you can get many fancy versions at many price points
Alpha Sol ring is still over $1000. The Kaladesh and Judge gift ones are hundreds of dollars. The Borderless and 40k collectors editions are $10-20. But because it’s in every commander precon, someone at your LGS will probably give you an extra one they have kicking around.
No one would buy the boxes if cards were reprinted that heavily
Honestly I think they're starting to get a bit better with it with the collectors printings. I have my issues with it, but charging silly prices for a pack of cards that are just fancy and foil versions of the standard packs feels like a better answer. It ring fences the "rare" printings, especially if those versions never get a reprint, while having more available versions of them to actually play with.
The first card shown is one of my favorite cards in magic. Indestructible Aura, a card that is not an aura, does not have nor confer indestructibility, and features one of the best pieces of magic art in history.
The List™ reprints are probably my favorite type of reprint I've seen. Besides how they're distributed, which I don't have an opinion on, I love that they keep the original expansion symbol and frame, but have a small marker denoting them as reprints. I don't know if there are people that hate that symbol, but I like how they put the card in its original time period, that feels right to me.
If I'm really looking to bling out a deck, The List logo really gets on my nerves but it's almost always the cheapest printing so I end up buying it. I just wish list cards were guaranteed in each pack like mystical archives were. Having a chance at a chance at getting a good list card sucks. I'd definitely be down for List only packs too. Might be a good way to do reprints consistently.
Exactly just reprint them and put a foil stamp on them on the bottom like the new cards have... Smh there's no reason they can't just reprint everything... It wouldn't hurt the value of anything... BoP has been reprinted how many times and the beta version is still crazy expensive.
Prof we love you as a person and that's why we love your unscripted work. You are naturally reflective, charming, and personable. Keep these coming!
I don't think the idea of white borders is to make them cheaper per se - rather the idea is to allow the original printings to maintain a collectability value outside of the gameplay value, much like how the legends printings of the elder dragons cost 200 times the chronicles versions. Right now the main demand is gameplay pieces so they will be almost the same price, but a few more reprints and another 5-10 years down the line, if the original printings are the only black border printings available, they could easily be a couple times the price.
I believe the lack of foils was to make it just as base gamepieces to allow players to play. If you want the fancy stuff you can go out of your way to get the singles. White border core sets were not all reprints and had original cards in them.
Chronicles was before they made any foil cards. The first foil cards were in Urza's Legacy a few years later.
@@clashcitywannabe I meant the lack of foils in flesh and blood. I know my comment does kinda garble together a bit I should've made that a bit more clear.
I agree! Let the white borders be exactly that, base game pieces. Let the chase foils, first editions, and promo cards raise in price over time. Those that want the big flash can chase, those that just want to play the game can get the Historic Pack Vol X and enjoy the game.
"White border core sets were not all reprints and had original cards in them."
Not sure I'm following. White border sets in MtG have always been 100% reprints (unless you count Portal) and the same is true for FAB so far. But maybe that's what you've meant?
I’d love more reprints, but I don’t see how they would make the originals more sought after. They’d probably make them much less sought after, since some of the people who want the cards don’t care if they’re original or not. Those people are currently in the same camp as the ones who _do_ want the originals. If they get reprinted, that camp will shrink.
I had to pause this to say, watching you open those new white border FAB cards really made me smile. White border just looks amazing in some games, and FAB is one of them.
same bro
Professor, you've answered this throughout the years, the answer is yes! And honestly, I agree.
With FaB's distinctive card frames, the white borders look a lot better than I thought they might. My collection is entirely black border and heavily foiled so History Pack isn't the product for me, but it's a nice product. Part of the reason it's in white border without foils is to help protect the investment I and other players have made in the older printings.
HP1 includes a selection from the first three sets of FaB, all of which are technically out of print but still reasonably available in the US. They did also print a black bordered version of HP1 in four other languages, and those boxes include some special cards and treatments that the white bordered product doesn't. You can get rainbow foil copies of the three Fabled rarity cards and double-sided cold foil copies of the original 8 heroes.
HP2 will come out in another year or two and will include a selection of cards from the next three sets of FAB, all of which are still _heavily_ available so there's not much of a need for it yet.
I love that Flesh and Blood does the History packs - I personally really like white borders and am very happy to see that they dont get chase foil version, its simple the card at its very base form and that is what the game needs. Let the chase foils, the first editions, and promo cards cost the big money and let the white border versions be readily available.
Going to the MTG Summit event in SLC next month. It'll be my first MTG event and your channel has been really helpful at learning the space and world!
Travis, please try flesh and blood once while at SLC.
Also will you be doing any interviews there? Or will it just be a deserved vacation?
@@tableandlegs not sure if I'll do interviews or not, but I'll bring my camera regardless
I’ll see you there!!!
what u doing here Travis, go back to your corner of youtube and make the annual "how to fix the LCS video" we need
Just bought my first blitz decks! 25 total out the door at the LGS! Can’t wait to get into this game
when we switched to FAB my heart gave a little flutter :)
I've recently gotten into Yu-Gi-Oh!. One of the things I really appreciate is that there's a lot of staple cards that are available in both common and higher rarities, with a lot of what feels like targeted reprints specifically for the purpose of not necessarily driving the price of a card down, but rather to increase its availability. I've been playing since the beginning of the year. Since then, two structure decks came out. Both of them had quite a few reprints that can be slotted into pretty much any deck.
And it also makes commercial sense. Take for example the first 2022 structure deck, Albaz Strike. With reprints like Effect Veiler, Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, Dark Ruler No More, Called by the Grave, Pot of Extravagance, buying three of the structure deck just to get playsets of these staples is a good value proposition even if you aren't interested in the rest of the deck.
There's a homely and intimate feeling when people get to talk unfiltered and unscripted.
You main videos have a lot of polish, but these are so much fun!
I really like how flesh and blood keeps the prices down. At my LGS, we often have casual blitz nights where you just bring any blitz deck but you can proxy the equipment, and everyone is fine with that
7:35 yes exactly, the only art that stands out anymore are the unique styles like Seb McKinnon or Rebecca Guay. Take War of the Spark for example. Almost every card in the set looks like it was painted/drawn by the same artist which makes 99% of them just blend together.
I don't know Flesh and Blood as a game much, but as a Kamigawa fan, those Ninja cards speak to me on an art level. Lordy, such good art
And Ninja is in a preview promo deck - Ira deck. If you’re lucky, your local game store may have one for you (it’s given out for free)!
Also that Rhinar.....the Brute? Seems like an orc? Pretty cool
@@michaelatbarnett Brutes are a blast to play and with card names like "Smash with Big Tree" whats not to love? Rhinar is cool too because he removes cards from his opponent's hand making it very difficult to block his big damage attacks.
Ninjas are rad in Flesh and Blood. Most characters will manage to pull off 2‐ 3 attacks a turn, ninjas can basicly double that. Now the attacks usually do less damage, but you're greatly rewarded for playing cards in specific orders and moments during your turn. Doing this often gives your attack a damage boost or on-hit trigger.
I personally really like the unscripted videos. For those of us who like you, professor, it sort of makes it feel like we are just sitting across from you having a chat. Rather than educational its more like an atmospheric, reassuring sort of thing.
I'd actually love a fully white border mono white or white/green deck. would look great IMO
8th Edition white cards were AMAZING.
One thing I noticed is the chronicles kept their set symbol where as new reprints have their corresponding set symbol. The expansion a card comes from, regardless of similar art can also impact the price, but white bordered would impact it probably more so
Ha, I just finished my white border commander deck (with Xira Arien as a commander) the thing I liked best about building this deck is that I know there will be no new cards coming out that make me need to change my deck.
And if the whole deck is white border, it looks damn cool 😄
Yesss!
I kinda want to do this
hi fellow OG Xira player xD mine has only the oldest version of each card, as its an spellslinger - magecraft deck hahahahha
@@GetTooasted do it 😄 it won’t be as powerful as modern decks, but it’s so much fun for casual play, especially if everybody plays a white border deck.
@@SSolemn I didn’t know that to do as a theme for my deck at first, but now my theme is ‘tap abilities’. 😂 lots of creatures that do something when you tap them.
I can't lie I love these kinds of vids. Just cracking packs and talkin about stuff. It's enjoyable. Makes me think of the times at the lgs just doing that
I love seeing FaB content on this channel!
History pack was an interesting experience. When it was announced everyone thought the cards would be significantly cheaper due to low demand. And would help bring down the cost of staples like Command And Conquer and Spring Tunic.
Howeverz the printerun was so small, that these cards ended up being harder to get than the originals. And so they were actually listed for higher prices than the black border Versions, which was pretty crazy.
I'm happy to see that over time, the market corrected itself and these are now more affordable versions, though, not quite to the extent that we originally thought they would be.
Having reprint sets like Yu-Gi-Oh and Flesh and Blood would be a healthy thing for the game
Yes, WotC has been doing reprint sets, poorly compared to the other two. Now, how will bandai handle reprints with digimon?
@@WangerZ3291 jp does it fine by flooding supply.
Eng on the other hand is big yikes
@@WangerZ3291 they actually just announced a new reprint set for digimon that looks like it's going to have alot of the important chase cards.
Now let's see if it ever makes it state side.
@@2Eliishere that's the thing, we can't assume the fact it'll be coming internationally. A few other concerns: how often they'll do it? With the 86/132 being reprints, which sets (barring promos) will be included?
@@WangerZ3291 I mean all of the reprints have come stateside in some way or another. It just so happens that alot of those ways (box top promos) are dog shit garbage ways to actually get those cards into peoples hands.
I think Sol Ring is a great example of how over printing a card can be healthy for a format, lower market prices to get your hands on the card, and allows special printings of the card to keep their value. Sol Ring is in every single commander product and can be bought on the secondary market for around a buck. But certain printings of it that are foil or have specific art range from hundreds of dollars to thousands. WotC shouldn't be afraid of reprints because it only encourages more people to buy into and play the game. And we have the market data to concretely prove that old printings maintain their value overtime, despite reprints. Look at Shivan Dragon! The reserve list is total nonsense. If every single card on it was reprinted, prices may dip slightly but will ultimately rebound because certain printings are just more sought after than others. The biggest issue with removing the reserve list is how long its remained. These cards have gone so long without reprints that if you tried to print them into the ground, any product containing them would sell out instantly and would destabilize the market for a good while. Wotc have really painted themselves into a corner. Every day the reserve list exists, the more destructive its removal would be. The sooner we rip off that bandaid, the better.
Great example!
These cards are gorgeous, that goblin shrine is amazing, even nowadays with all the "special edition" and premium borders they're all just re-colors of the same border unlike the classic frame where each color had a distinct personality.
That's not entirely true: I agree that the old borders have more personality (and are move obvious about it), but the new borders are different for each of the colours too.
Another good day because of you Prof. when I started magic I didn’t like white border cards, but now they started to grow on me.
I still have a ton of Chronicles cards in my collection and I use the white border cards whenever possible in decks. I was also in highschool during the early days of magic and the nostalgia is strong!
If I were creating a new TCG, I would state up front that any card is always fair game to be reprinted. It might have different art, or a different foil treatment, or some promo stamp, or any other visual/aesthetic change so that collectors can differentiate them and put premiums on the older ones if that matters to them. But access to game pieces would always come first.
Magic players are so abused, lmao.
It's really not that uncommon for a TCG to actually have and state their reprint philosophy from the start.
That's essentially what James White has said about Flesh and Blood. They aim to never release a reprint that is cooler or more desirable than the first printing coil-foil version, but that they'll reprint cards players want/need. Which sort of protects the secondary market while also saying we'll reprint whatever we need to keep the player community healthly and happy.
honestly, original printing with black border and subsequent printings in white border sounds like the best way to do it. Keeps the original a collectors item worth money, while providing game pieces. And, unless something changed, because there are companies that make inner sleeves with a variety of colored border overlays its not like you can't coordinate your decks appearance anyway. Win/win, imo.
history pack vol 1 was mainly created for foreign players in spanish, german, french and italien. the english version could have waited another couple of years tbh, there is an abundance of unlimited product around, which is great since new players join daily... the price difference in my eyes is miniscule, id rather get the black border for a couple of dollars more
Yeah, as a player with access to Unlimited I prefer it too. I bought a box for the novelty value and didn’t regret - needed those Storm Striders.
I'm with you on the white border reprints of historic Magic cards. Most of the top tier cards are priced way out of the range of the average player, reprinting a "Playset" version with white (or other color) border cards would mean that more players can get their hands on cards, which would mean more players at tables in LGS's. Black Border cards can be collectables or "flex" cards to show off.
"Wizards of the Coast never did a set like [Chronicles] - not until 2013 when the first Modern Masters was printed in very cautious limited supply *and* at an MSRP of $6.99 per pack"
Ah yes, the good old days of 9 years ago, when Wizards releasing a $6.99 booster pack (and that supply was limited enough that the street price was more like $10) was scandalous.
Hard to believe that, less than one decade later, they'd be selling FAKE Magic cards in $250 booster packs.
this is pretty honest commentary, good for you to be able to not be afraid to rock the boat when it is needed.
In terms of recent memorable art: I've got to give it to Wesley Burt for The Wanderer in War of the Spark. The Japanese version is also very good but I think the contrasting colors on the English version really make it special.
Great content, Prof! I just wanted to add an art highlight.
He actually pulled nearly $50 of value between the Teklo core and the enlightened strike. If he bought a case(4boxes), he’s definitely getting value out of it.
Id argue that Alpha Cold Foil Heart of Fyendal is the "Black Lotus" of Flesh and Blood.
You're probably right, but Alpha foil Tunic is going to be a close second.
@@TheTacticalBat For sure
Just so you know prof, I don't play Flesh and Blood. I wish I could afford to because you've sold it to me and I respect you a great deal. However; even though I don't really pay attention to the game, I still LOVED hearing you just talk. It was a great listen, and hearing your absolute joy at cards for reasons other than monetary values was lovely.
Fortunately Flesh and Blood is very cheap if you want to try it out. LGS's sometimes have Ira Welcome decks which are supposed to be given out for free to people who want to try it. If that's not an option look into the commoner format, it's FaB's equivalent to pauper. You can make a pretty competitive commoner deck for less than $20.
@@TheTacticalBat When my time and finances come around, it's definitely on my list of games to try. Thanks for the help!
I never heard anyone complaining about Chronicles reprints back in the day...then again, the internet wasn't a thing back then. You had to get all of your Magic content from Scry and Inquest magazines. It was a great time to play as there wasn't much "net decking" happening because there was no "net".
I remember for sure those magazines. I actually sent in a paragraph about how wizards printing 4 sets a year was too often and Inquest put my words in their opinion column :) “sets come out faster than I can eat my bologna sandwich” how naive I was…
To be honest, I love these unscripted (or partially unscripted) videos, especially when you open packs or do something else while talking. It reminds me of when I went to my lgs and talked with my friends who were older than me and already played modern while I coudn't afford a deck. They would play against each other, open packs, trade, while I bugged them with questions and we chatted. It's a nice feeling, reminds me of simpler times :)
Honestly, if WotC just released a product called "History of the Multiverse 1" as a reprint set, and for this set they would include shock lands, fetch lands, and other cards like lightning bolt, arcbound ravager, at white border... it would be awesome. Put it at an affordable box price too, with $3-$4 booster packs... and the set wouldn't be limited print run, either. WotC needs to take a hint from FaB. We can only take their abuse for so long
I really like the flawless, no-cut-transition from your introduction, to your card opening! It's just a small detail, but it shows, that you present it and talk without a big script or something alike!
Aside from the dual lands, if I could have one thing come off the Reserved List, it would be Sliver Queen. I just want to replace just one of the ones I lose back in the day. Absolutely incredible proxy aside that a good friend made for me, it is the one hole in my Sliver collection.
I'm so glad I kept the one I opened from a Stronghold pack back when it was released!
Wow, I just looked up Sliver Queen and just the regular version is $300. That's insane. If foils and whatnot of a card are that expensive, fine whatever. But it's not like we're talking about Power 9 or something that will break formats. It's Sliver Queen. It's pretty much JUST a casual card. Absolutely mindblowing they wouldn't reprint it.
I got one years ago cheap off a friend but even then she was like only 45 tops and when I quit for like 3 years I still never gave her away cus if I ever wanted to rebuild slivers she would be too pricey
All of mine were from packs I'd opened at the time, but lost everything in a basement flood and left the game before Urza's Saga dropped. I briefly came back in the Onslaught block when Slivers came around again and I decided if I couldn't have my Queens anymore, I at least wanted Overlords. Then was gone again til Ravnica so I was already in it for Wave 3 and the Legion 😄
you're spot on with regards to new magic art, in my opinion. The illustrations we remember the most are pieces by Guay or Hamm.. Pieces by artists whose style is unique and recognisable and doesn't get lost in the "artstation blockbuster movie/videogame concept art" style that seems to be so popular with WOTC.
"I'm gonna monetize something stupid" - This could be said about a lot of things, but I don't think the Flesh and Blood segment is stupid. Ramble content is nice to see, at least in my opinion
I love white border cards with the modern desing in MTG. It make it so appealing, so elegant. But talking about the cards design i love the design before the 8th edition, it was very atmospheric. And talking about atmospher and memorable, i do have a colection of cards of my favorite illustrators: Terese Nielsen, Paolo Parente, Rebeca Guay, Robert Bliss, Tony DiTerlizzi, Carl Critchlow. Oh boy, those were THE cards that could transport you deeply into the atmosphere of the game. I started playing Magic on 8th edition and my first deck was Sky slam. Oh boy what a deck. My favorite card of all times is Unsummon. Such many combat tricks you can make with that card. And that card was even more powerful when damage used to go to the stack. Now they made a new unsummon with steroids XD add a Scy 1 to the formula. So sweet card... i only have one copie of it.
I just returned to play for Kamigawa, just from time to time in arena. The design of the cards in the last year, i must say is really well done. I can make some combat tricks again.
I echo your thoughts on not liking the idea of making reprints less valuable or sought after, but I also don't think it's the worst idea ever, and it's far better than nothing. Also, my insane take is that I kind of like some of these cards better with the white border than the original black lol. I'm genuinely considering picking up a bunch of white border cards for my Runeknight deck because I just love how the art pops on those borders.
The only weird thing about the History packs in FAB is how early they came out, you can still find Welcome to Rathe in a lot of shops and the supply of commons and rares for those sets aren't really in short supply. They also didn't significantly up the draw rates for Legendaries which is the main reason those legendaries were so expensive. So you have roughly the same chance of getting a Tunic in HP as you do in WTR and the one in WTR is foil black border. On the other hand the Arcane Rising and Crucible of War legendaries were getting up in price and the stock was getting bought up so the HPs did help drag down the price of Legendaries from Arcane Rising in particular.
LGSs also didn't get many of these, I think something like 4-6 BOXES per store which is also why it didn't really flood the market with new reprints. But the HP sets will presumably be around for a good long while so those cards will always be somewhat available.
HP in NA not only lets us know what to expect once/if UNL dries up, but it's mostly just to onboard stores that arent already carrying the game. Requiring a store who's newly dipping their toes into the product to buy multiple cases of multiple sets is a tall ask.
@@grvedr I didn't know they were giving it to stores as an entry, thanks for sharing.
Reprints I believe are a good idea so people like me who started late could experience the history of the game. Along with the fun experience of simply building unlimited decks. Butz there should definitely be some sort of significant change in those reprints for the purpose of collecting and, maintain the games history
Thank you for your comments on the booster graphics for Chronicles. I created that globe while learning Photoshop in-house. Keep up the great work!
I did a double take when reading this comment. I saw the phase “I created…” then look and saw your name. So cool to see you here!
Old Magic artwork is much better in my opinion. It's the same thing with Yu-Gi-Oh! for me. The original art is so iconic and "pops!" out at you, making the card memorable. Lord of D., Blue Eyes, Pot of Greed to name a few. So iconic. Modern Magic cards are of much higher quality, but it all looks so generic in my opinion. I don't get a connection to the card, which is important to me.
It also the fact most yugioh cards feel too clean and anime waifu. I'm not against it I just think variety and diversify in art styles is a good thing
Your unscripted conversations always feel so cozy and nice. I listen to them later in the evening and it's perfect and I appreciate it. Reminds me of the time I ran into you and Vince and we all chatted on the way back to the Seattle GP. Remember GPs?
I hope I’m not the only one who loves the look of white bordered Magic cards. I think they look great especially on Blue cards.
I did a lot of my playing on UNL, Revised, 4th, so I like the look of white borders, but I also played a lot of the original black-border expansions, so they always look more prestigious to my eye.
When i think about reprint price drops, I just think about Tarmogoyf and how it withstood reprint price dives for years, because it was a card that was being played so much. Theres obviously a point at which you're reprinting something too much, but I think theres much more space for reprints than WOTC or LSS let there be
This effect is why the og duals and fetches cannot really become affordable, demand is depressed due to supply limits, and if they started seriously reprinting them prices would spike until market saturation occurred (which might never happen).
There is much, much more demand for them than there is supply. Heck, Shock lands have had several reprints over the years and they're still $10 each.
@@ZefulStarson That's not really what would happen. The main bottleneck on those cards is supply, and the reserve list. If WotC spoiled a reprint of them, prices would tank as people "and speculators" freaked out. It may spike a few times as tons of people buy it, but if the reprint is decent and not just in a secret lair or something, it would lower the price
@@lukestorm4566 Fetches are essentially mandatory to any deck running more than 2 colors in most formats and in many 2 color decks they reprent additional copies of your best dual. Sure, the price might dip due to concerns about reprints, but once that wears off the unthrottling of demand will drive the price up. Prices will only start to decline when the supply of cards outstrips demand which could potentially never happen as the new availability might result in more players joining formats where fetches are necessary causing demand to grow alongside the growth in supply.
The original duals are only slightly better in that the most popular format they are legal in is commander which is a singleton format. But that only waylays the issue as commander is the most popular format for magic currently so there would be a lot of untapped demand.
@@ZefulStarson If they reprinted them a little bit every 5 years, that would be enough.
I haven't really gotten into FaB yet, but from an outside perspective Spring Tunic is the only card that I actually can name off the top of my head, so to me it seems like it might be the Black Lotus of the game
ok let me preface this, i built an CC iyslander deck from scratch recently
Spent less than $1k, roughly about $540 SGD for an competitive build (including RF Tunic, RF Coronet, RF Storm Striders, RF Alluvion, 3 E.strikes,etc) thats like waaayyyyy cheaper than an MTG modern (heck even an CEDH deck, which i have 3 (Winota, Yuriko, Malcom).
Really gotta give the good job well done sticker to LSS to keep the game pieces cheap.
I love that you're you doing more Flesh and Blood content. I've been playing for 9 months now and it's been so much fun. I was already considering completely abandoning Magic due to how much more I like FaB, but Hasbro's growing greed pushed me over the edge. I'm glad to see you giving the game some airtime and helping to grow the FaB community at the same time that players are leaving Magic and looking for an alternative.
Same story, completely switched sides to FaB. I hope LSS are taking notes observing what MtG has turned into. Sadly.
not there yet but the trajectory of MTG is 👎
I really like the idea of white borders and I don't view it as printing an inferior product but rather doing anything but that to achieve the goal of creating more affordable game pieces. White border cards are just as good, with just as nice artwork, as their black border counterparts, but if the white border means that they will be any cheaper than they otherwise would have been I think it makes it a more successful product.
I really like the point about including foils or special treatment cards in the set though to increase the incentive to open packs. In Europe we actually have a limited print run black border version of History Pack 1 in non-english languages to make up for the fact, that the original products were not nearly as easy to get a hold of here and they also include super rare special treatment versions of the original 8 heros, as well as reprints of the first three fableds. Even though those cards are all in black border and also limited in print run the cheapest version of any given card from the first three flesh and blood sets is always from the foreign black border reprint and while I do believe that the non-english lenguage plays a part, I do think the increased incentive to rip packs of this set also plays a major role
I first started playing during Ice Ages, and bought quite a few packs of Chronicles back then. This brings me memories....
I think the white border idea for FaB is great, but I think another concept that is great for prices is their cold foil policy, where a cold foil version of a card will never be reprinted. Managing card prices is a very thin line to balance. Local game stores make very little money off most tcg sealed boxes. If cards are too cheap, no one buys boxes, and your favorite local store could go out of business. If cards are too expensive, it might hurt the players trying to play the game.
I think cold foils help both the players and the collectors. Want to just play the game with game pieces? Great, the regular version isn't very expensive because people are chasing the cold foil. Want to be a collector or speculate on investment? Grab a cold foil or enjoy the hunt cracking packs for one.
History pack makes sense but it was too soon. There is still plenty of unlimited available for the first 3 sets. Yes, eventually that supply will dwindle but until then there wont be a large amount of history pack being cracked which is why the prices of white borders to the UNL black border cards isn't very large. As UNL supply dry up more history packs will be opened and the price gap will become clearer.
You're right, with time the prices will make sense. That's why they aren't bothering with an English History Pack 2. I'm sure it'll be a thing eventually when we need it, but for now it will just be in alternate languages to help grow worldwide appeal.
I have recently pulled the trigger on an itch I have had for a few years now and have delved into the 93/94 oldschool mtg format. White border cards are a god send. I also grew up with 7th ed as my first set so I have a fondness to the white bordered cards. Seeing F&B do this makes me want to play this game even more now.
FaB is really worth trying the game is fun and different, more hero-centric!
I highly recommend getting a few blitz decks and playing against friends, switching decks and get a feel for the game and the hero you want to play.
So we have had:
the mystic archive of strixhaven
The artifacts of brothers war,
I don't remember them doing any treatment for land, enchantments and creatures... So only a matter of time. I personally believe those styles of special printings are the place for reprinting
Well they also did expeditions, invocations, and inventions. But those are from another time.
Yeah for sure. I think the white borders are supe ugly.
Zendikar had the Expeditions, too bad they weren’t in every pack instead of just being a Box Topper (Zendikar Rising) or only in one out of every 100+ packs (Battle for Zendikar block).
I’ve cracked probably 7:1 magic v fab and have pulled 2x as many $100+ cards from flesh and blood.
Had hella bulk so now I play lol wild times
There are two reasons I don't play MtG.
1. I already play a TCG and don't feel like learning a new one.
2. I already play a TCG and don't have the income to own cards of a second one.
This weird, silly predicament where some relevantly played cards now cost hundreds and most of the money from that doesn't directly trickle back ot WotC anyways to my understanding- its one of the reasons why TCGs trend towards hostile for new players. Yes, I can understand the rationale behind it.
But y'know what? I've never looked at YGO's aggressive reprint policy and been like "I wish more cards were at staple prices due to limited supply, really the issue here is that I have too much capital left over after buying into the product"
like cmon bruh
I love History Pack 1. It brought many commonly used game pieces back into LGS's in my city, and gave us some slightly cheaper Majestics and Legendaries so that more players has the game pieces they needed. I hope they continue to do this going forward. I wish Magic would do this without the inflated price tag associated with reprint sets. I'd even take white border without foils (Pringles) if it meant making magic decks more affordable.
Personally I really love the white border for reprints. They stand out, and it helps get more cards out there for the players.
I don't mind white border for reprint of card wit the same artwork. But i will prefer to have black border if the artwork his new!
@@reallaporte2845 Yeah, I agree with that.
As a MTG player that's moved over to FAB. Its nice to hear you're also a Dash fan since she took me to take down my last local armory.
Having no idea about rarities in FaB, is it just common, rare, and mythic? No uncommon? I just saw C, R, and M at the bottom of the cards
Common, rare, majestic, legendary, fabled.
And now "marvel" in newer sets.
Correct there's no uncommon rarity, but they have 2 rare slots per pack with one of them being an ancillary slot that the rarity can be upgraded to majestic and above depending on the set/pack layout.
That Enlighted strike is a pretty good pull Prof! Congrats
I know this is primarily a MTG channel, but could I ask for a Shuffle Up and Play of you playing other card games? Flesh and Blood, Digimon, even Yugioh I feel would be fun one offs. Especially if it's not meta, just people having a good time.
FWIW I like your off-script videos, it's nice to just hear you chat about your thoughts.
I enjoy the way Cardfight does it. For supporting older formats they print dedicated products on a schedule that are about 50% needed reprints and 50% new cards for the format. For the premier (non-rotating standard) format they do "masterpiece"-like cards, so base-rarity singles don't tend to creep past $20-$30. Many decks are cheap to build and competitive at locals.
It honestly makes me miss the masterpiece days of Magic. I never opened one myself, but many of my friends did. It was also the last time I played standard MTG since it was so affordable.
Ayyy my favourite part was the Steve Argyle shoutout. He's my fave mtg artist. I have a playset of Thalia signed by him!
This is so fun especially since I’ve been getting into flesh and blood so much since your last video on it. I’ve been wanting to make a Dash deck!
An interesting aspect of FaBs History Pack was that it also coincided with foreign language printing becoming available. The non-english HP1 cards are actually black bordered, and do include marvel version of hero tokens (double sided, cold foiled, with one side being full art)
I never comment on this subject...but I think the real problem is it's TOO LATE. I agree with what you're saying but it's like the toothpaste thing. Too much money has been spent all these years by high level consumers collecting cards and to nuke their collection value would likely do more harm than good to eco system. Wizards knows this and in addition they're making a fortune as things are.
this is a really enjoyable video to watch, Prof just rambling on about a topic, sometimes wandering off trial, which I dont even mind. all while cracking some packs
As a yugioh player the reserve list is actually disgusting. We have cards reprinted all the time, but we have so many rarities to choose from that our “whales” don’t care. If our most powerful cards were constantly never reprinted, then the game would have died years ago. The fact Magic relies on draft is a saving grace, but alienates those who want to try and win at a GP event or equivalent.
Reserve list is bad but yugiohs reprint policy isnt the best either. Things get short printed and sometimes the cards don't get reprinted until they've been power crept
this! I came from yugioh and I always compare magics reprints to the mega tins from yugioh where they reprint most of the best stuff from that year in various rarities. maybe not apples to apples since in yugioh different rarities get different foils but it wouldnt be that hard for magic to do.
Unscripted Professor is the best. I don't even mean in a meme way its legitimately really refreshing to see it and even though you say you hate it, it really does suit you!
I hadn't seen flesh and blood cards before, that artwork is amazing x.x I think scar for a scar was my favorite
The art only gets better!
The art is fantastic and becomes a true thing of beauty when done up with their cold-foil treatment.
As an early adopter of EDH who eventually turned to throwing unopened product on a shelf, I don't understand how paper magic brings in new players. It is amazingly cost prohibited at this point. Any old EDH deck I have sitting around is probably at least $500. That is just because the sheer amount of desirable cards for the format cannot be printed down.
I won't say I'm an expert on any of this but I think if any kind of card needs to be cheaper in Magic is all the lands.
- basically any Magic player ever
and it's still true
I Was playing when chronicles came out. I was SO happy when it came out. Urza lands and elder dragons were awesome. All of my friends were super happy to be able to play the cards. What a stupid decision to make the reserved list over reprinting the (by today standards) bad cards. lol.
They should have just printed not limited edition beta, with idk purple borders or something no small print run, 10$ a pack. Buy all you want. And that would be fine. People would be happy. I'd probably drop 1k on boxes to draft and collect easily.
I think that flesh and blood looks better in white border than magic. Their frames lend the cards more to em.
Also, for those of you who don't play Flesh and Blood, at 28:49, Prof opened a Bloodsheath Skeleta. It's the most powerful equipment ever printed. It's banned in both Blitz and CC. It enabled a turn 2 OTK build in a certain deck.
Prof basically opened a FaB timewalk in white border. I love both games, but FaB's reprints are spectacular
Best of all, it was only like a $20 card, haha (pre-ban)
@@SirRabbit I was playing Vis for a blitz event, bought a crucible pack before it started. Opened it, went 3-0. LOVE that deck
I think that box was trying to nudge you into playing Runeblade lol, though it’s a shame Skeleta is banned in both formats currently.
I certainly don’t mind white borders personally, it actually looks good on a lot of FaB cards. I also like how the majority of cards you’d typically run in a FaB deck are cheap commons and rares, and a lot of the majestics even are pretty cheap compared to a lot of playable mythic or even rare mtg cards.
When I had heard about the reserved list, just as I was getting into Magic, I was confused until I heard that it was to be used in a not so much banned but more now not the best time for the card to see mass availability. When they changed how it worked, it broke me that some cards would become just collector pieces. Then I started brewing for EDH/Commander. I have at times become very pissed that reserved list has stayed in place for so long. Chronicles only got reprinted as much as it did because of Legends's shortfall. I find it to this day an interesting look into the "what happens when.." mind set. History Pack is just about making sure the staples are available for newcomers, just like Chronicles. But just like Renaissance did for Europe, HP1 is black border in the new languages. This goes to show that the White border was never the issue with the revised/3rd-9th core sets either. The other nice feature of the white border is that is does save ink in the long run.
Love the unscripted thoughts, prof. It’ll feel less awkward once you get more under your belt. The community already loves you, this is just a great way for us to enjoy your authenticity
pokemon has the "cards should have value problem" buying a booster pack is always a waste because only like 10 cards in a set cost more than $10 and they're only alt arts. You can buy the best cards in a set for like $50 total