On The Quality Of Magic: The Gathering Cards

#MTG #Magicthegathering #wizardsofthecoast

Check out my other videos:
The Tolarian Tutor MTG Study Series:

Music Courtesy Of:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[VivaLaReverend]

Remember when card miscuts and print errors were so rare that some people collected them?

[ohnosmoarlulcatz]

One of these days, you'll be able to identify the counterfeit card as the one that doesn't curl as much.

[IAmNotConnie]

"This isn't even a video attacking Wizards of the Coast, I don't NEED to attack Wizards of the Coast."
Hello, yes, I would like to report a murder

[kittenclanclan]

Thank you for talking about this in such open, honest, and plain terms. I know MTG players exaggerate and talk about quitting at the drop of a hat, constantly, but as someone who likes her foiled EDH decks to pieces, the sheer anxiety of buying new foils and watching them be of such poor quality is genuinely the closest I've gotten to just dropping the hobby. I feel uncomfortable buying new cards. It's cardboard. It's just cardboard. It used to be good cardboard. How is this something we even need to complain about - how are they not on top of this? It's so absurd and so deeply frustrating. The outright depression I felt after cracking a collector box from my LGS of Commander Legends for $200 and flipping through the ugly, poorly inked, radically curling foils was astonishing. These cards are embarrassing to own, it's embarrassing to know that absolutely nothing seems to make them care or own up to it. Surely stores selling singles are fed-up with returns over new product, too, right? There's nothing more detrimental to the fundamental faith in a card game than when you're afraid to buy cards you ostensibly want.

[Yakkosprite]

The cards from commander legends Ive opened are so curled that Ive decided to keep them in Prigles tubes rather than folders

[buddah_bird_]

Next secret lair: Salt and Vinegar *comes in a pringles can.

[TheKingNaesala]

To paraphrase Jim Sterling, "They'll buy it anyways. But that's not a defense. It's a confession."

[christotten]

You give that "im not mad, im disappointed" vibe...and i totally get it.

[AffinityforMTG]

I watched some non-MTG channels opening the Walking Dead secret lair and there was a lot of disappointment in the quality. We've been discussing this for so long in the MTG community that I think we've all just gotten used to it, but it is unacceptably low.

[barchamcbarcha]

This just means that there's a new, secret rarity. It's called "Near Mint".

[mikotagayuna]

Maybe Hasbro should hire counterfeiters to oversee the quality of Magic cards. The quality of counterfeits every year seems to be inversely proportional to those of legit ones nowadays.

[CPYRGTNME]

It's amazing how far the quality has dropped since old school foils from Urza's Saga and such; those cards hold up beautifully today.

You also know the Prof is serious when there's zero music...

[Alphabeta]

For a game where the experience is everything, quality should really be the top priority. Thank you, Prof, for your work trying to keep the company accountable.

[DuxoDurazzo]

remember that wonderful smell cards use to have during the Onslaught until the Ravnica block? Those smelled like heaven

[thepineappleyempireofsuper]

Even here in Florida humidity, which tends to attract more curling from foils, it has just gotten way more consistently amateur on how bad the cards curl. And I mean before OPENING the pack. Like, it's visible in the pack!

[haileydee]

As someone who works in the print industry I know how to fix almost all of the problems shown. Paper stock change will fix the curling issue. Keeping the blades sharp will prevent the "chipping" on the bottom edge and regular calibration and densitometers can help adjust the ink levels to keep a consistent ink saturation.

[brittanynguyen]

Comment for the algorithm so people will watch more of prof’s vids

[ilikeapplepi]

Thanks for bringing attention to this Prof! Since I started playing in Core 2020 I've noticed that it's a complete tossup as to whether or not foils in the same set are of good quality or have that muted, dull, darkened look with no shine and vibrancy. I love foil cards because of how pretty they are to look at, but since there's no way to guarantee that's the case when buying online I've completely stopped purchasing foils altogether. I used to think it was just an issue in supplementary products (fat packs, commander precons, prerelease packs, etc.) but it seems to be entirely random almost nowadays and affects both my USA-made and Belgian-made packs :(

[romzombie]

I started playing in 94 with Antiquities, and over the years the quality has decreased step by step while the price keeps going up. I can't assume it is anything less than a continuous decision to choose the most cost-effective printing partners by WotC regardless of quality. I can almost hear management now: "If they will keep buying it anyways, why are we paying so much for the high quality stuff?"

[TreasureTrain]

300 dollars for some bent shiny paper. this is my biggest pet peeve with magic