GamingReport posted a statement from Wizards about changes to come in Magic: The Gathering, which I can only guess are going to inspire hatred in the hardcore fans. I haven’t followed Magic for some time now (Time Spiral was even the last set I did a draft in), but it’s always interesting to see what they’re doing with the game to keep it going. Here are the parts I found interesting:
Wizards has received a tremendous amount of feedback from fans that the volume of cards released each year is too high. After evaluating the set sizes, Wizards has decided that card sets will be smaller than they have traditionally been. The set size for the upcoming block will be 249 cards for Shards of Alara, and 145 cards for the two subsequent sets.
Notice they don’t say “we’re releasing fewer sets per year” but instead “sets will be smaller.”
Mythic rare cards will appear in approximately 1 out of every 8 booster packs instead of a rare.
Ah, chase cards finally come to Magic. It was inevitable after foiling began. Still, they do insist that due to the card sheet sizes, Mythic Rares are only twice as rare as rares, not 8 times as rare, and that they will be appropriately “mythic” instead of something weird.
Each booster pack will now contain 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 10 commons, 1 basic land, and 1 tip card or token, with the mythic rare replacing the rare in approximately 1 out of every 8 packs.
Why, back when I started playing, there were random lands in every pack, and we liked it! And we didn’t have a tap symbol at all, the cards used the words tap! And we played uphill every day in the snow!
Ahem, anyway, a tip card or token is also an interesting idea. I thought the tokens were fun in Unglued, but they aren’t really an essential part of playing, so I can imagine serious players not being happy about either of those changes. All of the changes seem aimed at drawing in new players. Sound familiar?
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