Spoiler season is always fun. Maybe because speculation is more fun than the actual cards in practice. Some cards have a ton of hype and end up being garbage. It happens. Maybe you guys remember people freaking out about Sarkhan Vol?
Ok, well we stand before a precipice of great change in magic. This will be the last core set. Ever. Most people associate core sets with unexciting cards and a lot of reprints.
A lot of players complain about core sets. And understandably. They almost never add anything to eternal formats and usually only a small slice of cards make it into standard. Because most of the cards are underpowered. And there's a reason for that. We, as players, often seem to forget that we started playing this game at some point and there was a huge wall of information you have to overcome to start playing.
What about newer players? From now on, they're going to have to immerse themselves in new sets with very complicated cards - cards without reminder text. I have tried to teach people to play. It's never worked out. I usually give them the basics and then we play a few games with decks that are already built (the worst ever was trying to teach someone to play with a standard dredge deck. wowwww). I've never been able to convince someone to play and then they've become addicted to it. It usually works the other way around. I meet people playing magic and then we become friends.
I have to ask: is this good for the game? Magic is one of the most complicated games in the world and quite possibly THE most complicated card game out there, or at least the most complicated of the popular card games (such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc.).
I picked up magic cards when I was ten (I started in Nemesis btw) and honestly, it probably took me more than a year to fully understand the intricate rules. I have a distinct memory of playing with my cousin and saying "when you start the game, you can put as many lands as you want into play, but after that you can only play one per turn."
It is very difficult to get statistical information on magic players. Wizards conducts surveys, but I am highly skeptical about the accuracy of this information. Supposedly, there are 12 million magic players worldwide. Is this the amount of registered DCI numbers? There are people registered who haven't played in years and I know several people with multiple numbers - I've kept mine since 1999 though ;).
Do they somehow average this number based on the number of packs bought? I think there's a huge number of magic players who play, but only casually. In high school, there was a group of guys I played with and I was the only one who would go to FNMs or tournaments. We would usually just draft in someone's basement. How stereotypical.
Secondly, what constitutes a player? Maybe there are casual collectors who go in from time-to-time and buy a couple packs, just to look at them and have no idea how the game works. Also, there are probably a high number of people who have cards from a decade(+?) ago that just play casually together. Again, in high school, I had a group of friends who played together who had cards mostly from Ice Age to Urza's Block, and this was during Shadowmoor (heyyy, you can probably figure out how old I am now).
Ok, but the points is, or what has been said on the internet and I have no factual evidence for, player growth in magic is slowing. Spending by player is increasing actually.
It's hard to talk about the longevity of a game that's more than two decades old. I doubt Richard Garfield ever imagined it would last this long. But can it carry on indefinitely? If that is the plan, WoTC needs some kind of plan to keep players in the game and bring new people in.
I think the new format decision for standard is another barrier to getting into the game. This idea of a faster rotation is probably good for players who get bored with the "solved" standard format that is usually just midrange decks just slogging each other from May to July (and sometimes August if the core set is bad).
The entire set has been spoiled so far and it seems that it's pretty impressive. The power level is a bit higher than many past core sets. Might as well give it the last hurrah.
This post has a bit less substance than most, but I figure you've probably already heard about the potential new scry rule and you've already read through all the spoilers.
I have a bunch of exams coming up next week so we'll see how if I can come up with some sweet lists.
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