Happy Monday MTG folks,
In today's Arcana over at Wizards, we have news of another new product - Grab-and-Go Event Decks. These Event Decks are designed to be strong, capable Standard-legal decks. This is a very interesting development and would certainly we have questions . . . a lot of questions.
> How often will Grab-and-Go Event Decks be released ?
We're thinking that in order to maintain its popularity with gamers, these would need to be released shortly after every new set in order to provide the latest card hotness.
> Will these Grab-and-Go Event Decks overshadow the conventional theme decks ?Only time will tell but this product may be a nail in the coffin for theme decks. Price and selection of cards may be the only distinguishable difference.
> Just how 'competitive' will this be ?We ask this as we are thinking that some competitive decks may be priced well out of range of the target market they want to focus on - the relatively new player who wants to get into a casual standard game via Friday Night Magic. The secondary singles market could take a hit here or some players may just purchase the Grab 'n' Go deck for the express purpose of extracting that money card and throwing the rest away. Daniel Tack of the Detroit Magic the Gathering Examiner had a good point when he pointed out the challenges to assemble an Event Deck "within reason, even for FNM level play where Jace, The Mind Sculptors and Primeval Titans run roughshod over all manner of homebrew hodgepodge."
Lastly - we hope that these decks won't contain a bunch of craptastic rares no-one wants to play with or a collection of cards to showcase a new mechanic. There are quite a few challenges and we anticipate that should the decks be any kind of decent, it will never sell close to the suggested retail price (MRSP) thus missing the point to catering to the newer player who often has not yet decided if this game is for them. We're hoping that these will be somewhat similar to those World Championship Decks which were specially packaged versions of the top 4 decks used at the Magic World Championships (1997 - 2004).
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Here is the descriptive from the mother ship . . .
Each Event Deck is 60 cards, plus a 15-card sideboard—ready for all of your dueling needs! Also included: a Spindown life counter and strategy guide to help pilot your deck to victory. Best of all, they'll be available on February 25, 2011, just in time for Mirrodin Besieged Game Day taking place the very next day!
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Just so ya know - here are the top selling cards for Magic 2011 according to MTG Mint Card -
1. Sun Titan
2. Baneslayer Angel
3. Jace's Ingenuity
4. Lightning Bolt
5. Sword of Vengeance
6. Combust
7. Condemn
8. Primeval Titan
9. Temple Bell
10. Mana Leak
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after seeing the quote from Danny T i just had to laugh. even though he is king neck beard he does offer gems of wisdom.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a step in the right direction for Wizards. It makes sense to promote that this is a game of skill, not a contest of who has a bigger disposable income.
ReplyDeleteIt may be good for first introduction to, but deckbuilding is fun and important part of game. Besides, deck-from-the-box can never catch up players minds and new ideas they develop. I think they will be popular among casual players and I hope that I can save money by buying a pack of expensive singles within this decks.
ReplyDeleteI believe some ingenuous marketing guy at Hasbro looked at how much money the top cards fetch on Ebay and realized he could grab a slice of the pie by creating the Event Decks. I've been playing Magic since 1994 and work in marketing. You can clearly seen how the game evolved over the years into a money-making business, typically after the takeover by Hasbro. It's not a bad thing in itself and doesn't spoil the foil for me, but it's interesting to be aware of it. I can see limited interest at first in these Event Decks, but it could be rapidly increasing if it suceeds in stifling the second-hand market for expensive top cards (which I wouldn't mind BTW!). Yet I agree it will never replace deck-builidng. Wait and see...
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