Fetchlands, MTG Reprints, And Secret Lairs: A Critical Conversation With Wizards Of The Coast

#magicthegathering #MTG #fetchlands

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

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[PopeGoliath]

I don't envy the Wizards rep here. He knows we know, we know he knows. He can't say anything. He's got big bosses breathing down his neck, and a whole team of lawyers staring at him.

This must have been a miserable experience for him, to toe the company line in the face of the obvious he can't say.

[d.w.]

Profs Face, when Blake talks about cardboard price... priceless. Cmon blake. We are not stupid.

[jasonregnier]

Prof's face when he know's he's getting bullshitted is priceless

[anxez]

"Will the reprint later this year be meaningful?"
"Depends on how you define meaningful." Is a shining clear "no" when in this very conversation you had already defined what a meaningful reprint would look like.

[rickworley]

"Oh, we can't lower the price because that will create bad behavior" and then, "Oh we can't print more because we don't know the demand." Of course they know a lower price would create bad behavior of buying them up and reselling them, because they know that the demand exceeds the supply. If they're concerned that a lower price would create a shortage, then they could print more. They're deliberately creating both the scarcity and the "bad behavior" so that they can charge an obscene price and rake in the most cash possible with the least possible expense. The fact that they think we're too stupid to understand that just makes it exponentially more insulting than it already is.

[elijahdavila]

Blake: "Dirtibution, artist pay, design, etc. also goes into card cost"

Yes Blake but isn't that roughly the same for every card? Every card has art, has to be distributed, etc. Reprints like these don't even need a design team behind them because they've already been designed. In fact, the cards from Spellbook Chandra, as Prof said, have arguably more work put into them due to the new frames.

[Clank]

Prof’s restraint is Herculean.
Really don’t like Blake’s snide “that’s an opinion you can have” regarding the box size.
Thanks so much for the video Prof. Look forward to the review of the product.

[Aaackermann]

"We have economists" is indeed the most honest answer he could have given and simply means: We look at how much money we could charge for cards that the community want. Simple!

[rickworley]

"They're not necessary, they're only necessary if you want to win or have a good deck." Oh OK then.

[lillimack]

The tone of this interview is anxiety-inducing. Wizard's business practices have been predatory for years, and it hurts to see them getting *this* much worse.

[snowsource]

Thanks for this Prof! Someone needs to hold WoTC’s feet to the fire on this. I’m sorry if anyone shot the messenger on your announcement video, but you’re doing the journalism that the MTG community needs!

[mtg.delirium]

I heard a lot of “This is where the community might not like our answer”

Then maybe you should change the way you’re doing things so that your customer base thinks better of you and is happy with your decisions

[ChadZeluff]

What was said: “We have economists...”

What they want us to hear: “...And they don’t look at prices of fetches on TCGPlayer”

[forevergaming]

"10 per store" is the top 5 percent of stores across the nation. As a store owner I know on avg 95 percent of stores are getting 3!

[ronjohnson]

Why does WoTC need economists working for them setting the prices of their reprints if they arent supposed to pay attention to the secondary market? I think we have an admission of guilt here folks.

[TheCharlieChitty]

"How do you balance cost with price point with reprint equity?"

WotC: We're trying, but we're encouraged to put out more products per quarter and charge more.

"Why?"

Hasbro: "Haha, money machine go brrr."

[ReplayStation]

The price is indefensible. They claim not to be a part of, or even acknowledge, the secondary market yet here they are charging secondary market prices for singles. There's nothing they can say that doesn't end with 'WoTC is selling us singles at secondary market prices'

[uSra]

"arent fetch lands making modern hard to get into"
"no its ok you dont need fetch lands for your commander deck"

[Winterhert]

Prof: "I want to play modern and we all desperately NEED those fetchlands to be accessible."
wotc: "Well.. I play Commander I dont NEED them. And if I do I only need 1... so there you go."

Since ive been traveling to OZ I have not seen a more blatant strawman...

[JBergmansson]

"Blake Rasmussen avoids answering questions for 55 minutes, trying to defend WoTC"