Completely agree with Crim and the idea of going back to focusing on just putting out good standard sets. It was a great time to make decks based on the jank cards you had to work/use from drafting standard pools.
If I was CEO I would try to save the MtG narrative. The story lives in a sorry state at the moment and mostly exists to provide a handwave for why people go from wearing detective hats to cowboy hats every few months. No wonder why we (Wizards of the Coast) prints so Universes Beyond. Those stories make people happy -- meanwhile the current story makes people bored. I don't know how to get players invested back in the story; a good TV show is probably involved. But I would like to at least try.
I remember ppl dumping on the direction of the story for the last few years. Now that half of standard sets are UB everyone cares about the story again for some reason.
@@bernabes8424 I've embraced UB more and more because the story has gotten to the point it makes the game worse. For example, I don't play Mirrodin Avenged (even though I play it's copy You Are Already Dead) because the art reminds me of how they ruined Elesh Norn's character and then decapitated her.
Jokes aside, Seths hybrid idea could be ultra profitable if they serialized the initial limited secret lair release. First 1000 purchases get a random serialized version instantly, everyone else is guaranteed to get a normal one within a few months
If they made a gold bordered power cube and sold it for a reasonable price like 80 dollars. It would sell so incredibly well. Thats an excuse to make proxies of all the expensive cards.
Hi, I live in Tucson where the relative humidity is on average between 0 and 10%. I tried those EXACT humidity packets linked in the video and after 3 weeks with a card in a sealed Ziploc bag, my foils went from "Way too curled, clearly marked" to "Slightly too curled, clearly marked". It was a noticeable difference, but it wasn't close to good enough.
Richard, I have heard two things from you in the past few days: "We have been trained not to buy cards because we like them, but because they are good". "I almost want to quit Commander, and I have quit Modern..." I get where you are coming from, but my advice would be that you need to channel the spirit of childhood. Buy and play the cards you want and set aside your try hard spirit. Be like a kid and play the game to play it. Embrace the fun of just existing in the game space. Adulthood is sad and depressing and fatalistic. Sometimes you just have to play a Shivan Dragon even though you'll lose the game because dragons are awesome.
Tomer's love of Kaldra is only a meme because people are too sweaty. It's actually wholesome and wonderful to just love something and engage with it because you love it.
@@bernabes8424 I agree, but my point is one further. I am not saying "quitting Modern = not liking Goyf", I am saying that he should enjoy the playing, and play what he wants. There is a tension in most game players between playing what they want to play and trying to win the game. Oftentimes, trying to win means forgoing your preferences; and is touted as the "right way to play". I say phooey. Play what you want and find a way to stop trying to win so much. You can't often win all the games and play your favorite cards, so pick happiness over conquest.
Richard i agree.. I want a character that has armor made from different strongest materials from each plane. Kinda a mix between taskmaster and gore .... now that the gates are open
On Richard's first point: Give me an anonymous Mirran survivor of the March of the Machines clad in an armor made from dissected Phyrexian Praetors/Dominuses, and I'll buy it in 12 different arts.
Richard's explanation of the "30% of MH3 are EDH cards cause they have the space" makes sense in itself, but is literally a self-made issue. Just cut those 30% of cards then, if they serve no other purpose to be "filler" for a set. It just causes problems. Reduce the set by 30% and keep it a 'true' for-modern set. Then make a EDH focused set later, that actually makes sense for that format, not trying to shoehorn busted EDH crap into a non-EDH set just to fill slots. Same with what Crim alluded to: a standard set should have cards only catered towards a healthy standard format. Don't throw in cards that are clearly printed for EDH.
Tbh I think the "commander was so much better 10 years ago" is the definition of rose tinted glasses. Yes, superstaples like fierce are overall a negative, but just try playing old decks with current day knowledge. They have done a lot of good things for commander, which is just fair to highlight when scoling them for obvious mistakes
I have the same taste as you Richard. The dragoon type armor from early FF games, a black luster soldier, or “dark knight “ archetype that is mysterious and badasss would be sick! Neither good nor evil - just comes in and wrecks shop!
Kaldra DOES have a token Tomer, it's a 0/1 Germ! JK, I still think you should go Tymna/Sakashima to find Kaldra and synergize with it. I would actually say foiling is usually fine atm, the vast majority of Drop foils I was getting (before I stopped ordering due to the limited print run BS) weren't curling and looked good. If you've stored an card in 'pressed' condition for a long time it'll be quite a bit more resistant to curling, because it'll take a cast. This is like how if you unspool a bunch of wire the wire 'remembers' (has cold working of the materials) how it was coiled up before, and it'll have a cast and tend to make a loose coil. I'm fine with Gold Border versions, and at this point the only Legacy cards you really want that are Reserved List are what, Duals?? Just ban duals and everything's fine. Crim is epically wrong, powerful AND simple like Bowmasters are bad for the game, janky and complicated cards with a higher skill requirement are good for the game. People like complexity and interaction, WotC can't resist the siren's song of derpy pushed shit and 'their market research told them that people like cards that are always good, and hate cards that are sometimes bad'. (Moleman Voice) I buy cards for their art.... I'm also one of the most self-sabotaging people I've ever met. Richard, the equivalent to an OG Charizard is clearly an Alpha Shivan Dragon, don't compare a beloved classic to a derpy PW with a name that's 'a villainess' rearranged that came out long after most people who'd started playing had quit at least twice. Charizard is a famous thing with pedigree at this point, just like Alpha Shivan. Also like Charizard, Shivan isn't necessarily a great card.
5:20 I think Dakkon fits the criteria of a "character clad in sick armor", also helps that Dakkon also always have amazing art from Richard Kane Ferguson. You could also make the case that Karn fits the role, sure it is technically not 'armor' but Karn still fits the over all trope and is often portrayed as an absolute unit that can wade through enemies like a tank.
Richard's mysterious armored man was a legit good idea! Also sometimes when listening I find out I'm more enfranchised than people whose job it is. Perhaps I need to rethink things.
gonna watch tomorrow, but i expect crim to sell his soul for universe beyond and tomer pushing basic land support. Lets see if my predictions will be true.
20:00 wow wow wow Seth, you can't just ban cards anymore. These people lose their minds when you actually use the banlist. And God help you if you ban a card that's expensive, even though most of the cards you would need to ban are expensive because broken cards tend to command a high price point.
What is the one thing that every commander deck needs, is very expensive, and is relatively simple to reprint without requiring we add more backstory? Lands. Sell booster packs of 5 lands for $50 a pop, rather than making me wait every year for one half set of shocks, one half set of fetches, etc. to be reprinted in other sets. I will spend more than a typical collector booster box’ worth of money (something I’ve never bought before) on these land packs for my numerous commander decks with crap manabases! Lands are an unnecessarily expensive obstacle to having a fun commander deck and should be accessible, and they have a huge amount of reprint value
You could take the gold bored idea two steps further. 1. Release a set called something like "The Golden Era" that includes reserved list cards, but also other nostalgia cards from across Magic's history. So that there is enough cards to make an interesting play set out of. 2. Have a non wizard employee start a new pick-up format where all the cards in your deck "have-to-be" gold border. You've now legitimized gold border without strictly claiming them are legal playable, and stoked demand for both new and existing gold border cards.
Adding on to Seth's gold bordered/"official wizards proxy" idea. 10 individually sold packs, each themed off of power 9 + 1 ring. So Black Lotus can be focused on lotus related cards. each Mox is color themed packs based on desired reprints of each color, Ancestral recall pack is card draw focused, etc... And each pack is released like a secret liar or how the commander collections were released.
I believe the Nadu situation was that originally it wasn’t made as a card for modern at all, but the casual play design team said that the original Nadu would not be fun to play against because It would create unfun gameplay patterns. Which is why it was changed.
I agree with Crim … fixing foiling would be the first thing on my agenda. I don’t buy Collectors Boosters anymore (haven’t since LOTR) simply due to the fact that Magic foils suck.
I have a suggestion that would make hasbro an awful lot of money and buy them goodwill with the community. Create a price cap on cards. Not by fiat, but by allowing partner stores to buy a box of say 50 copies of any rare, mythic, or other card at a fixed price. No premium versions, only the base version, you have to crack a pack for the premium version. Yes, this probably reduces the number of booster boxes people buy. But the margins on boxes are not large because of the printing and transport costs of a box that is mostly bulk, and the margins on selling a box of 50 rares for $10 each would be so much higher. You make it print order. Players would love it. They don't get to bling out their decks with these cards, but it makes standard decks cheaper even if there's a breakout card.
For the Reserved List reprint problem, I have a solution. Daybreak and content creators like LSV have created a small but devoted Vintage Cube community. If you sell a Vintage Cube box set, with non-Magic backs and gold borders or whatever, that’s a way to put all the super expensive RL cards in players’ hands at once. Then people can play tabletop Vintage Cube or they can break the cube down and use the cards as proxies.
I think instead of having multiple types of booster box there should only be a "draft box" and it should have 24 draft/play boosters and 8 collector boosters as prize support. Local game stores usually offer individual packs anyway and its fewer products to track and ship on the distribution side of things for Wizards.
You should just add farewell to the house ban list. It's too backbreaking of a card. I'd rather you cast Armageddon than a farewell. Just start a new game; don't play shahrazad
Richard's print recommendation is exactly what Weiss Schwarz does!! Thats one of the many reasons why Weiss is actually my fav card card (other reasons include best print quality by a huge margin out of any card game, best game mechanics out of any 1v1 card game, and of course the cherry on top: Waifus everywhere:) (Self admission: I have never seen One Piece cards irl nor do I know how to play it, so it may be great as well)
I only use nonfoils, Richard. Extended varies by the card but extended, borderless, and base arts are mostly what I use in decks. Some extended arts actually reveal more art such as my Wrathful Raptors. Foils curl so screw them.
41:38 Definitely watched a video about this recently-ish. Something to do with the cardstock becoming unavailable globally due to costs or something iirc. Pretty sure one of the Magic documentaries covered foils in a video this year.
If y’all like this comment enough, they will have to read it as comment of the week. MtgGoldFish will get me a new gaming PC, it’s comment of the week so y’all have to do it now.
I’ve never seen Richard so wrong before. Magic does have a heavily armored character and their name is THE Mosswood Dreadknight. As CEO he just needs to make them a legendary creature and then all the Jund gamers will have a commander to build around and a build around for other formats
31:00 very funny discussion where it starts with everyone agreeing that there shouldn’t be so many versions, but then agreeing that each version has their pros and cons… making it seem like more versions isn’t that bad
Excellent thought experiment! It would nice to see some more of sessions like this, as reasonable topics arise and should be addressed with the community. Not sure if Hasbro would fire you, but you get my thumbs up on the majority of said ideas.
Im with Richard on his first point. It would be really cool to have some super mysterious armored up Badass who never talks or does talk a little but still has a mysterious past. Kinda like Doom Guy from Doom Eternal or Skull Knight from Berserk.
Richard’s first tasks as CEO, 2 mana farewell, 1/1 birds equal auto win and Tomer pays 4 for every Rhystic Study trigger instead of 2 Update: halfway through the pod and my heart is broken. the boys took the plot twist and went mid. Didn’t understand the assignment today guys.
I want a legacy reprint set, and take all lands off the “reserve list” note reprint set, no new cards, but cards like ancient tomb, dual lands, city of traitors etc. if we can make legacy decks cost approximately the same as modern decks, I think you’d see a resurgence in the format.
Power creep needs a serious reset!! I suggest printing a Homelands/Fallen Empire level of set for standard. Players will hate it so... in order to have anyone want to buy the sets reprint the power nine and dual lands in those sets.
14:09 that is wrong. Nadu was always a commander card. They had everything they wanted for modern, and they weren't able to get it more cards. They use the extra slot for commander.
Extended border is way better than is being represted here. Its a nice treatment for cards that aren't going to fet multiple arts. Especially nice for random precon rares. Also a great alternative for cards that might have multipe arts, but the original looks better. Im honestly disapointed when I'm building a deck and the only alternate version of a card is like the crappy markov manor showcase frame with no extended art varient.
One of my first things as CEO would be contracting Larian studios to build a MTG game. Probably on Ravnica. I imagine BG3 but in the MTG world, with changes to make it it's own identity and not just "BG4". I would also contact netflix to make a sick show. This is making me want to write MTG fan fic. Hah.
In my opinion: Generate a new format Commander-like from zero, focussed in a low-to-the ground story that grows slowly, with very low-powered cards and story-focussed (something alike the first season of Arcane), with relatable protagonists to be the Commanders, and let it grow veeery slowly, maybe with a different border for the cards to differentiate it. A new format where a 4/4 for 5 mana would be a threat again and not only a joke.
35:30 - I just opened a few boxes of Pokemon cards, the foils don't feel very special. You get 3 in every pack that will curl worse than Magic cards if left out.
Tomer, I think the "what if card in another format" argument is valid when it comes to negative action, but it is worse when it comes to positive action. It is healthy and good for game design to say "This Modern card would break Legacy, and we want to avoid problems, so we will update the design", but it is not healthy when they say "This Modern card is not good enough for Commander, so we need to make it playable there too". Damage control is good, but designing for other formats is not. Nadu was just poorly handled damage control.
We need more commander formats pushed. Pauper Commander is dope, 2 headed dragon is dope, Highlander Gauntlet is also sick. Showcase these cool ways to play magic. Also for regular EDH making the most powerful decks you can with any given commander is boring, a deck with a theme using less used cards and it being a lil jank is way more fun. who wants to see the same 300 cards being played when we have 10's of thousands to play with.
I was honestly kind of surprised Fallout got a UB before Elder Scrolls (though I guess it makes sense since the show was coming out). Really hope when TES 6 is coming out there will be an Elder Scrolls UB, the themes are super close to magic. Would love to see a WUBRG Alduin card, a Jund Dagoth Ur or even the daedric princes.
I love that they didn’t even need the silly “We’re the CEO” premise it was just them discussing their issues with the game and what they want. We don’t need the pretense guys, were all Magic players and want to complain 😂
I love the game, but it really doesn't matter to me what the flavour, art or even names of the cards are. I own loads of commander decks, and I refer to them by their mechanical themes without knowing the commander's name. While it might be cool to have more accessible lore to dive into, there's also a risk with that. As discussed at the start of the episode, did knowing Boba Fett's story make the character more or less interesting? Some players will love knowing the lore, but there's a high likelihood some will feel it ruined their favourite cards.
Just announce that the reserve list will be revoked in X years. Say 10 years or so, so that there is time for everyone to "cash out" if they want. This will prevent the massive losses since they are still reserved for 10 years. It also give plenty of time for any legal actions to be resolved before the actual revocation. This should have happened 10 years ago.
I think if WotC had advertised aftermath boosters as "This is where the cards for this set that are meant for commander go" they may have done better. I really liked a lot of cards from the aftermath for commander, and it was nice to not be concerned about pulling a ton of common bulk. IMO the product was a good idea but a marketing failure.
Fix poison!!!! 20 points! SOME way to remove poison like 2 or 3 life to prevent/remove poison! Many more cards that prevent/remove poison!!! Reprint the power 9! Reprint dual lands!
Just want to say… blood moon is not a “feel bad” card for casual commander. If anything it’s weaker in casual because players are running more basic lands. There is a big difference between MLD and a blood moon effect. Also encouraging casual players to run more interaction (in this example enchantment removal) is not a bad thing.
I’m not sure mandating a cool mysterious character with armour is the job of the CEO. That sounds like a nepotism CEO who got the job because his father is the controlling shareholder on the board and now he thinks he has great ideas that will save the game when in reality they’re small and vacuous but he still hangs around the design department all day. If the CEO impacts the game, it’s in the way Seth and Crim were suggesting. Deciding to print less cards for a format, mandating more focus on certain formats, planning the product focus of the game years out. The disastrous choice to make UB legal in Standard was probably a CEO thing
I don't think it's plausible to print less for commander. People already complain every time a new set pushes their favorite constructed deck out of the meta, making it unplayable. Should that happen more? Commander's broad meta plus its singleton nature allows it to absorb far more cards as playable.
When crypt, lotus, and dockside were banned stores and players lost hundreds. If you mess with the reserved list, that will be thousands to tens of thousands lost for stores and players. That will be the end for magic.
I would reboot the game through universe beyond. Universe beyond would be a spin off where you build 40 card decks, 20 land card decks, and you draw from either. Then, i would errata universe beyond cards to work in those rules and I would ban a bunch of overpowered ones from the format (looking at you walking dead and One Ring)
Anime armored character where you don't know who they are? That just sounds like Gowther, sin of lust from Seven Deadly Sins. There was the whole mystery when he first shows back up as he clad a monster in the armor as a distraction.
Tomer: "Who wants that stupid extended art?!" Me looking at my Extended Art Loot, Exuberant Explorer card cuz i like that art better than the borderless: 👁👄👁
I support richard 100% on his argument about card printings. It’s SO TIRING that EVERY CARD has like 10 versions. One version of each card except for extra important characters is the way to go.
It’s funny how much Crim wants wizards to invest in Magics IP but also wants universes beyond. I think the problem is that they are putting all their effort into universes beyond and they don’t have the resources to invest in their own IP. I think magic has an IP that could be as big as many other successful IPs but it requires Wizards to take their profits and put them into Magic and not universes beyond. The original brother’s war alone could be an amazing story if it was fleshed out a bit.
“We would lose so much reprint equity, Richard, we can’t do that.”
Seth is truly CEO material
"My first proclamation as CEO of Magic is that you put my cool OC into the game"
Based.
Good on Richard.
I'd take Richard's OGs over UB any day
@@TheMagicRat933 don't misunderstand me. I fully endorse this and would do the same thing
Isn't that just The Wanderer?
@ not enough armor
Honestly a Secret Lair with the 3 pieces, a actual token and Kaldra complete would be pretty cool
They could print cycles but for some reason they dont
Bad news guys, CEOs die to wrath.
Thats clever
No, sorry, they phase out. And now they have hexproof and their life total can’t change and they automatically win the game.
Chris Cocks must be a Helmsmasher then because he faced more wraths than anyone and came out unscathed.
Alternative title to the French Revolution:
Don't put CEOs in your commander deck
Seth's face when Tomer's Kaldra rant started had me hollering. I love you guys so much
Completely agree with Crim and the idea of going back to focusing on just putting out good standard sets. It was a great time to make decks based on the jank cards you had to work/use from drafting standard pools.
Richard with the best take here - 1 normal version, 1 insane version. That'd be infinitely better than the garbage they've been doing.
If I was CEO I would try to save the MtG narrative. The story lives in a sorry state at the moment and mostly exists to provide a handwave for why people go from wearing detective hats to cowboy hats every few months. No wonder why we (Wizards of the Coast) prints so Universes Beyond. Those stories make people happy -- meanwhile the current story makes people bored. I don't know how to get players invested back in the story; a good TV show is probably involved. But I would like to at least try.
I remember ppl dumping on the direction of the story for the last few years. Now that half of standard sets are UB everyone cares about the story again for some reason.
@@bernabes8424 I've embraced UB more and more because the story has gotten to the point it makes the game worse. For example, I don't play Mirrodin Avenged (even though I play it's copy You Are Already Dead) because the art reminds me of how they ruined Elesh Norn's character and then decapitated her.
They really farewelled the CEO of hasbro huh
Comment section already lost.
Now the Goldfish Crew is allowed to say it on the next episode.
This had better win!
You ruined it
Jokes aside, Seths hybrid idea could be ultra profitable if they serialized the initial limited secret lair release. First 1000 purchases get a random serialized version instantly, everyone else is guaranteed to get a normal one within a few months
The only problem with Richard’s armored character proposal is it would probably just be Jace role playing or a resurrected Gideon lmao
I love the silent armored characters, like the Stig.
If they made a gold bordered power cube and sold it for a reasonable price like 80 dollars. It would sell so incredibly well. Thats an excuse to make proxies of all the expensive cards.
If y'all like this comment enough, they will have to read it as the comment of the week. Hahahahahahhaha get pranked MTG Goldfish
Quick do a sneaky edit
Hi, I live in Tucson where the relative humidity is on average between 0 and 10%. I tried those EXACT humidity packets linked in the video and after 3 weeks with a card in a sealed Ziploc bag, my foils went from "Way too curled, clearly marked" to "Slightly too curled, clearly marked". It was a noticeable difference, but it wasn't close to good enough.
Richard wants "the black swordsman " in mtg for the first suggestion. And I'm 100 percent in
For Foundations there are cards that have 6 variations you can get in an English pack that are all at the same collectors number.
Richard, I have heard two things from you in the past few days:
"We have been trained not to buy cards because we like them, but because they are good".
"I almost want to quit Commander, and I have quit Modern..."
I get where you are coming from, but my advice would be that you need to channel the spirit of childhood. Buy and play the cards you want and set aside your try hard spirit. Be like a kid and play the game to play it. Embrace the fun of just existing in the game space. Adulthood is sad and depressing and fatalistic. Sometimes you just have to play a Shivan Dragon even though you'll lose the game because dragons are awesome.
Tomer's love of Kaldra is only a meme because people are too sweaty. It's actually wholesome and wonderful to just love something and engage with it because you love it.
I don't think it's that deep. Just cuz he doesn't wanna play Modern anymore cuz power creep doesn't mean he still can't like Tarmogoyf
@@bernabes8424 I agree, but my point is one further. I am not saying "quitting Modern = not liking Goyf", I am saying that he should enjoy the playing, and play what he wants. There is a tension in most game players between playing what they want to play and trying to win the game. Oftentimes, trying to win means forgoing your preferences; and is touted as the "right way to play". I say phooey. Play what you want and find a way to stop trying to win so much. You can't often win all the games and play your favorite cards, so pick happiness over conquest.
Tomers' Kaldra idea is money. That would be sick!
Richard i agree.. I want a character that has armor made from different strongest materials from each plane. Kinda a mix between taskmaster and gore .... now that the gates are open
On Richard's first point: Give me an anonymous Mirran survivor of the March of the Machines clad in an armor made from dissected Phyrexian Praetors/Dominuses, and I'll buy it in 12 different arts.
isnt esper sentinel exactly what he is asking for?
I think Richard is looking for a Skull Knight from Berserk
@@Miker0bs Esper Sentinel isn't a legend/named character though.
11:34 The moment everyone realized that the shareholders are their boss and not the customers.
Also, you can fix foil curling without localizing for humidity. Just foil both sides of the cards. We already have double sided cards.
Richard's explanation of the "30% of MH3 are EDH cards cause they have the space" makes sense in itself, but is literally a self-made issue.
Just cut those 30% of cards then, if they serve no other purpose to be "filler" for a set. It just causes problems.
Reduce the set by 30% and keep it a 'true' for-modern set.
Then make a EDH focused set later, that actually makes sense for that format, not trying to shoehorn busted EDH crap into a non-EDH set just to fill slots.
Same with what Crim alluded to: a standard set should have cards only catered towards a healthy standard format. Don't throw in cards that are clearly printed for EDH.
Yeah! And he also said that 40% of cards are for limited. Get those outta there!
What is this, Limited Horizons?
Tbh I think the "commander was so much better 10 years ago" is the definition of rose tinted glasses. Yes, superstaples like fierce are overall a negative, but just try playing old decks with current day knowledge. They have done a lot of good things for commander, which is just fair to highlight when scoling them for obvious mistakes
As a weeb myself, I did NOT foresee seeing Berserker and Firefly 3 minutes into the podcast lmao
Department of Efficiency has 2 leaders? Amateurs! We have 4 CEOs!!!
The thing with buying bling cards for commander vs 60 card format is play sets it Easier and cheaper to buy a single $200 card vs $800 playset
I have the same taste as you Richard. The dragoon type armor from early FF games, a black luster soldier, or “dark knight “ archetype that is mysterious and badasss would be sick! Neither good nor evil - just comes in and wrecks shop!
100% just one Masterpiece run in a set. That's it. Makes sense
You don't need 50000 word doc to explain what all is in your Collecting product name
If I was CEO I would bring a set back to Ulgrotha.
The starting banter on this cast was incredible! 😂
Kaldra DOES have a token Tomer, it's a 0/1 Germ! JK, I still think you should go Tymna/Sakashima to find Kaldra and synergize with it.
I would actually say foiling is usually fine atm, the vast majority of Drop foils I was getting (before I stopped ordering due to the limited print run BS) weren't curling and looked good. If you've stored an card in 'pressed' condition for a long time it'll be quite a bit more resistant to curling, because it'll take a cast. This is like how if you unspool a bunch of wire the wire 'remembers' (has cold working of the materials) how it was coiled up before, and it'll have a cast and tend to make a loose coil.
I'm fine with Gold Border versions, and at this point the only Legacy cards you really want that are Reserved List are what, Duals?? Just ban duals and everything's fine.
Crim is epically wrong, powerful AND simple like Bowmasters are bad for the game, janky and complicated cards with a higher skill requirement are good for the game. People like complexity and interaction, WotC can't resist the siren's song of derpy pushed shit and 'their market research told them that people like cards that are always good, and hate cards that are sometimes bad'.
(Moleman Voice) I buy cards for their art.... I'm also one of the most self-sabotaging people I've ever met.
Richard, the equivalent to an OG Charizard is clearly an Alpha Shivan Dragon, don't compare a beloved classic to a derpy PW with a name that's 'a villainess' rearranged that came out long after most people who'd started playing had quit at least twice. Charizard is a famous thing with pedigree at this point, just like Alpha Shivan. Also like Charizard, Shivan isn't necessarily a great card.
Magic had a faceless wanderer but then Garruk killed him. It was Vronos. He looked a lot more menacing than he apparently was.
5:20 I think Dakkon fits the criteria of a "character clad in sick armor", also helps that Dakkon also always have amazing art from Richard Kane Ferguson.
You could also make the case that Karn fits the role, sure it is technically not 'armor' but Karn still fits the over all trope and is often portrayed as an absolute unit that can wade through enemies like a tank.
Richard's mysterious armored man was a legit good idea! Also sometimes when listening I find out I'm more enfranchised than people whose job it is. Perhaps I need to rethink things.
Microsoft have been milking the Master Chief for 20 years. It works.
Petition for Crim to visit the Howling Salt Mine
gonna watch tomorrow, but i expect crim to sell his soul for universe beyond and tomer pushing basic land support.
Lets see if my predictions will be true.
Had a migraine all night from work...Crim looks like I feel. Your efforts are appreciated homie ❤
20:00 wow wow wow Seth, you can't just ban cards anymore. These people lose their minds when you actually use the banlist. And God help you if you ban a card that's expensive, even though most of the cards you would need to ban are expensive because broken cards tend to command a high price point.
What is the one thing that every commander deck needs, is very expensive, and is relatively simple to reprint without requiring we add more backstory? Lands. Sell booster packs of 5 lands for $50 a pop, rather than making me wait every year for one half set of shocks, one half set of fetches, etc. to be reprinted in other sets. I will spend more than a typical collector booster box’ worth of money (something I’ve never bought before) on these land packs for my numerous commander decks with crap manabases! Lands are an unnecessarily expensive obstacle to having a fun commander deck and should be accessible, and they have a huge amount of reprint value
You could take the gold bored idea two steps further.
1. Release a set called something like "The Golden Era" that includes reserved list cards, but also other nostalgia cards from across Magic's history. So that there is enough cards to make an interesting play set out of.
2. Have a non wizard employee start a new pick-up format where all the cards in your deck "have-to-be" gold border.
You've now legitimized gold border without strictly claiming them are legal playable, and stoked demand for both new and existing gold border cards.
Adding on to Seth's gold bordered/"official wizards proxy" idea. 10 individually sold packs, each themed off of power 9 + 1 ring. So Black Lotus can be focused on lotus related cards. each Mox is color themed packs based on desired reprints of each color, Ancestral recall pack is card draw focused, etc... And each pack is released like a secret liar or how the commander collections were released.
I believe the Nadu situation was that originally it wasn’t made as a card for modern at all, but the casual play design team said that the original Nadu would not be fun to play against because It would create unfun gameplay patterns. Which is why it was changed.
I agree with Crim … fixing foiling would be the first thing on my agenda. I don’t buy Collectors Boosters anymore (haven’t since LOTR) simply due to the fact that Magic foils suck.
I have a suggestion that would make hasbro an awful lot of money and buy them goodwill with the community. Create a price cap on cards. Not by fiat, but by allowing partner stores to buy a box of say 50 copies of any rare, mythic, or other card at a fixed price. No premium versions, only the base version, you have to crack a pack for the premium version.
Yes, this probably reduces the number of booster boxes people buy. But the margins on boxes are not large because of the printing and transport costs of a box that is mostly bulk, and the margins on selling a box of 50 rares for $10 each would be so much higher. You make it print order.
Players would love it. They don't get to bling out their decks with these cards, but it makes standard decks cheaper even if there's a breakout card.
For the Reserved List reprint problem, I have a solution. Daybreak and content creators like LSV have created a small but devoted Vintage Cube community. If you sell a Vintage Cube box set, with non-Magic backs and gold borders or whatever, that’s a way to put all the super expensive RL cards in players’ hands at once. Then people can play tabletop Vintage Cube or they can break the cube down and use the cards as proxies.
Having an updated Kaldra Token that doesn't look like a Bionicle would be pretty killer
I think instead of having multiple types of booster box there should only be a "draft box" and it should have 24 draft/play boosters and 8 collector boosters as prize support. Local game stores usually offer individual packs anyway and its fewer products to track and ship on the distribution side of things for Wizards.
You should just add farewell to the house ban list. It's too backbreaking of a card. I'd rather you cast Armageddon than a farewell. Just start a new game; don't play shahrazad
Richard's print recommendation is exactly what Weiss Schwarz does!! Thats one of the many reasons why Weiss is actually my fav card card (other reasons include best print quality by a huge margin out of any card game, best game mechanics out of any 1v1 card game, and of course the cherry on top: Waifus everywhere:)
(Self admission: I have never seen One Piece cards irl nor do I know how to play it, so it may be great as well)
Richard must be watching Solo Leveling. The red soldier would be a dope card
Love you guys! Nothing to say just wanted to comment because I usually watch on my SmartTV and can't comment
I only use nonfoils, Richard. Extended varies by the card but extended, borderless, and base arts are mostly what I use in decks. Some extended arts actually reveal more art such as my Wrathful Raptors. Foils curl so screw them.
16:47
The problem is that the Tier 1 Modern cards are also good in Commander, and so are the Tier 2 bulk cards.
41:38
Definitely watched a video about this recently-ish. Something to do with the cardstock becoming unavailable globally due to costs or something iirc. Pretty sure one of the Magic documentaries covered foils in a video this year.
Guys! Some of us have Autism and you step off of our bordered cards
If y’all like this comment enough, they will have to read it as comment of the week.
MtgGoldFish will get me a new gaming PC, it’s comment of the week so y’all have to do it now.
I’ve never seen Richard so wrong before. Magic does have a heavily armored character and their name is THE Mosswood Dreadknight. As CEO he just needs to make them a legendary creature and then all the Jund gamers will have a commander to build around and a build around for other formats
An example of a character in armor where you don’t see the face and they go and kill like everything would be the green knight in Warhammer fantasy
Frodo is a good foil, the blade has the glowy blue foil to warn for the Orcs.
31:00 very funny discussion where it starts with everyone agreeing that there shouldn’t be so many versions, but then agreeing that each version has their pros and cons… making it seem like more versions isn’t that bad
do the gold bordered reprints as a pre-constructed cube you buy to draft out of the box
Excellent thought experiment! It would nice to see some more of sessions like this, as reasonable topics arise and should be addressed with the community.
Not sure if Hasbro would fire you, but you get my thumbs up on the majority of said ideas.
Im with Richard on his first point. It would be really cool to have some super mysterious armored up Badass who never talks or does talk a little but still has a mysterious past. Kinda like Doom Guy from Doom Eternal or Skull Knight from Berserk.
Richard’s first tasks as CEO, 2 mana farewell, 1/1 birds equal auto win and Tomer pays 4 for every Rhystic Study trigger instead of 2
Update: halfway through the pod and my heart is broken. the boys took the plot twist and went mid. Didn’t understand the assignment today guys.
Give us Dark Souls universes beyond and all armor problems are solved.
The three pieces of Kaldra and Kaldra Compleat have decided to take over the Goldfish podcast and rebrand it as "Helm of the Host ft. Kaldra"
I want a legacy reprint set, and take all lands off the “reserve list” note reprint set, no new cards, but cards like ancient tomb, dual lands, city of traitors etc. if we can make legacy decks cost approximately the same as modern decks, I think you’d see a resurgence in the format.
Power creep needs a serious reset!!
I suggest printing a Homelands/Fallen Empire level of set for standard. Players will hate it so...
in order to have anyone want to buy the sets reprint the power nine and dual lands in those sets.
14:09 that is wrong. Nadu was always a commander card. They had everything they wanted for modern, and they weren't able to get it more cards. They use the extra slot for commander.
Extended border is way better than is being represted here. Its a nice treatment for cards that aren't going to fet multiple arts. Especially nice for random precon rares. Also a great alternative for cards that might have multipe arts, but the original looks better. Im honestly disapointed when I'm building a deck and the only alternate version of a card is like the crappy markov manor showcase frame with no extended art varient.
One of my first things as CEO would be contracting Larian studios to build a MTG game.
Probably on Ravnica.
I imagine BG3 but in the MTG world, with changes to make it it's own identity and not just "BG4".
I would also contact netflix to make a sick show.
This is making me want to write MTG fan fic. Hah.
In my opinion:
Generate a new format Commander-like from zero, focussed in a low-to-the ground story that grows slowly, with very low-powered cards and story-focussed (something alike the first season of Arcane), with relatable protagonists to be the Commanders, and let it grow veeery slowly, maybe with a different border for the cards to differentiate it. A new format where a 4/4 for 5 mana would be a threat again and not only a joke.
Crim: "Hear me out. Trickle Down Standardomics."
35:30 - I just opened a few boxes of Pokemon cards, the foils don't feel very special. You get 3 in every pack that will curl worse than Magic cards if left out.
21:43 sums it up perfectly
Tomer, I think the "what if card in another format" argument is valid when it comes to negative action, but it is worse when it comes to positive action.
It is healthy and good for game design to say "This Modern card would break Legacy, and we want to avoid problems, so we will update the design", but it is not healthy when they say "This Modern card is not good enough for Commander, so we need to make it playable there too".
Damage control is good, but designing for other formats is not.
Nadu was just poorly handled damage control.
We need more commander formats pushed. Pauper Commander is dope, 2 headed dragon is dope, Highlander Gauntlet is also sick. Showcase these cool ways to play magic. Also for regular EDH making the most powerful decks you can with any given commander is boring, a deck with a theme using less used cards and it being a lil jank is way more fun. who wants to see the same 300 cards being played when we have 10's of thousands to play with.
Mysterious figure already in the game "Marit Lage"
I was honestly kind of surprised Fallout got a UB before Elder Scrolls (though I guess it makes sense since the show was coming out). Really hope when TES 6 is coming out there will be an Elder Scrolls UB, the themes are super close to magic. Would love to see a WUBRG Alduin card, a Jund Dagoth Ur or even the daedric princes.
I love that they didn’t even need the silly “We’re the CEO” premise it was just them discussing their issues with the game and what they want. We don’t need the pretense guys, were all Magic players and want to complain 😂
I love the game, but it really doesn't matter to me what the flavour, art or even names of the cards are. I own loads of commander decks, and I refer to them by their mechanical themes without knowing the commander's name.
While it might be cool to have more accessible lore to dive into, there's also a risk with that. As discussed at the start of the episode, did knowing Boba Fett's story make the character more or less interesting? Some players will love knowing the lore, but there's a high likelihood some will feel it ruined their favourite cards.
Just announce that the reserve list will be revoked in X years. Say 10 years or so, so that there is time for everyone to "cash out" if they want. This will prevent the massive losses since they are still reserved for 10 years. It also give plenty of time for any legal actions to be resolved before the actual revocation. This should have happened 10 years ago.
I think if WotC had advertised aftermath boosters as "This is where the cards for this set that are meant for commander go" they may have done better. I really liked a lot of cards from the aftermath for commander, and it was nice to not be concerned about pulling a ton of common bulk. IMO the product was a good idea but a marketing failure.
Crim is so wrong. FF16 was great. FF is always reinventing itself and this was a good entry.
29:12 staph, I want to bling 100% of my deck not like 50% because my commons and uncommons can't be basic ass foils.
Fix poison!!!!
20 points! SOME way to remove poison like 2 or 3 life to prevent/remove poison! Many more cards that prevent/remove poison!!!
Reprint the power 9!
Reprint dual lands!
Richard is ready for Universes Beyond Stormlight Archives. Shardplate will compleat him.
Just want to say… blood moon is not a “feel bad” card for casual commander. If anything it’s weaker in casual because players are running more basic lands. There is a big difference between MLD and a blood moon effect. Also encouraging casual players to run more interaction (in this example enchantment removal) is not a bad thing.
I’m not sure mandating a cool mysterious character with armour is the job of the CEO. That sounds like a nepotism CEO who got the job because his father is the controlling shareholder on the board and now he thinks he has great ideas that will save the game when in reality they’re small and vacuous but he still hangs around the design department all day. If the CEO impacts the game, it’s in the way Seth and Crim were suggesting. Deciding to print less cards for a format, mandating more focus on certain formats, planning the product focus of the game years out. The disastrous choice to make UB legal in Standard was probably a CEO thing
I don't think it's plausible to print less for commander. People already complain every time a new set pushes their favorite constructed deck out of the meta, making it unplayable. Should that happen more? Commander's broad meta plus its singleton nature allows it to absorb far more cards as playable.
When crypt, lotus, and dockside were banned stores and players lost hundreds. If you mess with the reserved list, that will be thousands to tens of thousands lost for stores and players. That will be the end for magic.
I would reboot the game through universe beyond. Universe beyond would be a spin off where you build 40 card decks, 20 land card decks, and you draw from either. Then, i would errata universe beyond cards to work in those rules and I would ban a bunch of overpowered ones from the format (looking at you walking dead and One Ring)
For armored characters, has Richard played the original Grand Abolisher?
Anime armored character where you don't know who they are? That just sounds like Gowther, sin of lust from Seven Deadly Sins. There was the whole mystery when he first shows back up as he clad a monster in the armor as a distraction.
Tomer: "Who wants that stupid extended art?!"
Me looking at my Extended Art Loot, Exuberant Explorer card cuz i like that art better than the borderless: 👁👄👁
“It’s Kaldra’n time.” - Tomer
I support richard 100% on his argument about card printings. It’s SO TIRING that EVERY CARD has like 10 versions. One version of each card except for extra important characters is the way to go.
It’s funny how much Crim wants wizards to invest in Magics IP but also wants universes beyond. I think the problem is that they are putting all their effort into universes beyond and they don’t have the resources to invest in their own IP. I think magic has an IP that could be as big as many other successful IPs but it requires Wizards to take their profits and put them into Magic and not universes beyond. The original brother’s war alone could be an amazing story if it was fleshed out a bit.
There is a mysterious character clad in armor. Have you ever heard of Kaldra?