4 ms·

Does anyone else feel revulsion at the notion of a "mythic rare?" Magic feels like a cross between a brilliant game and a video poker machine.

minimaxir 10y ago
The fact that the rarity top-end is only "Mythic Rare" makes it more tame than most modern TCGs.
- sqeaky 10y ago
  I think its a shame you were downvoted. I completely agree, many other TCGs were not so careful with promotional cards for example. All promos in magic are functional reprints of some other card. Things like the DCI Balance and Force of will might be worth a thousand dollars but there are cheaper versions of those cards out there. They even reprinted force of will this year.
- hayksaakian 10y ago
  They just permanently introduced expedition cards which are even rarer In the current set they're known as "inventions"
  - crooked-v 10y ago
    These are just fancier promo reprints of cards already available in other ways, though.
  - zszugyi 10y ago
    Those are just alternate versions of existing cards.
Retra 10y ago
The "you put money in, entertainment comes out" model is pretty broadly applicable, so I'm not sure what the hangup over video poker should be. More to the point, there is far more value for players in things other than getting mythic rares, so I'm not even sure the comparison is appropriate. It is far from the main focus of the game.
hyperhopper 10y ago
It was pawned off on the community extremely well, most people were actually "glad" about it being introduced, and its purpose was hidden at the start. Originally, they were meant for cards that were too strange to come up often in limited play, so this slot was just to get the weird effects to show up less in drafts. However, over time, it turned into every single card that would be a great high priced single turns into a mythic rare. I stand by my statement that this rarity was the biggest scam in the history of MTG, and most players ate MaRo's blog post introducing them right up.
- MaxfordAndSons 10y ago
  > However, over time, it turned into every single card that would be a great high priced single turns into a mythic rare. That's just a blatant exaggeration. They do a pretty good job of ensuring that not all the mythics are chase/staple cards in most sets. And there are still plenty of weird/garbage cards in the mythic slot that you definitely don't want in limited. That said I agree that it was mostly a financial decision, but I can't really fault Wizards for making it. Other successful card games have had more than three rarity tiers for years - Magic just gets additional pushback because it's so old that a segment of the player population has unrealistic/unfair expectations of stability, as if their sentimental attachment to the way things are should outweigh Wizards/Hasbro's financial imperatives.
- sesqu 10y ago
  Mythics didn't get sold as a way of rarefying complexity (you're thinking of the New Order revisions). Mythics were just a blatant ripoff of the Pokemon TCG (or a precursor), like foils were 9 years earlier. Here's what MaRo wrote in that article[1] you mentioned: > Magic is the only major trading card game currently printed with only three rarities. If we want to stay competitive in attracting new players we have to keep up with the industry standards. > We want the flavor of mythic rare to be something that feels very special and unique. Generally speaking we expect that to mean cards like Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells. [1] http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/year-living-changerously-2008-06-02 http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/ye...
sturmeh 10y ago
The only real issue is when they print tournament staples at mythic rare. They've avoided this for the most part. (Except with reprints where they do not wish to devalue the card and affect the secondary market.)
- logicfiction 10y ago
  I'm not sold that they've avoided this for the most part. Many of the most important tournament cards are mythic rares. BG delirium is one of the top two competitive standard decks currently and 25% of the deck is mythic rares. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-b-g-delirium-2965 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-b-g-delirium-...
mrob 10y ago
There's a legitimate non-money-grabbing reason for having rarer cards: limited formats. MtG is divided into "constructed" formats where you build your deck in advance from any legal cards you can obtain, and "limited" formats where you open sealed packs of cards and build your deck on the fly. It doesn't matter if mythic rare cards are unsuitable for limited because they're unlikely to show up there, so it gives the designers more freedom. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_formats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_formats But I think in practice it's mostly about the money.

minimaxir 10y ago

The fact that the rarity top-end is only "Mythic Rare" makes it more tame than most modern TCGs.

sqeaky 10y ago
I think its a shame you were downvoted. I completely agree, many other TCGs were not so careful with promotional cards for example. All promos in magic are functional reprints of some other card. Things like the DCI Balance and Force of will might be worth a thousand dollars but there are cheaper versions of those cards out there. They even reprinted force of will this year.
hayksaakian 10y ago
They just permanently introduced expedition cards which are even rarer In the current set they're known as "inventions"
- crooked-v 10y ago
  These are just fancier promo reprints of cards already available in other ways, though.
- zszugyi 10y ago
  Those are just alternate versions of existing cards.

Retra 10y ago

The "you put money in, entertainment comes out" model is pretty broadly applicable, so I'm not sure what the hangup over video poker should be. More to the point, there is far more value for players in things other than getting mythic rares, so I'm not even sure the comparison is appropriate. It is far from the main focus of the game.

hyperhopper 10y ago

It was pawned off on the community extremely well, most people were actually "glad" about it being introduced, and its purpose was hidden at the start. Originally, they were meant for cards that were too strange to come up often in limited play, so this slot was just to get the weird effects to show up less in drafts. However, over time, it turned into every single card that would be a great high priced single turns into a mythic rare. I stand by my statement that this rarity was the biggest scam in the history of MTG, and most players ate MaRo's blog post introducing them right up.

MaxfordAndSons 10y ago
> However, over time, it turned into every single card that would be a great high priced single turns into a mythic rare. That's just a blatant exaggeration. They do a pretty good job of ensuring that not all the mythics are chase/staple cards in most sets. And there are still plenty of weird/garbage cards in the mythic slot that you definitely don't want in limited. That said I agree that it was mostly a financial decision, but I can't really fault Wizards for making it. Other successful card games have had more than three rarity tiers for years - Magic just gets additional pushback because it's so old that a segment of the player population has unrealistic/unfair expectations of stability, as if their sentimental attachment to the way things are should outweigh Wizards/Hasbro's financial imperatives.
sesqu 10y ago
Mythics didn't get sold as a way of rarefying complexity (you're thinking of the New Order revisions). Mythics were just a blatant ripoff of the Pokemon TCG (or a precursor), like foils were 9 years earlier. Here's what MaRo wrote in that article[1] you mentioned: > Magic is the only major trading card game currently printed with only three rarities. If we want to stay competitive in attracting new players we have to keep up with the industry standards. > We want the flavor of mythic rare to be something that feels very special and unique. Generally speaking we expect that to mean cards like Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells. [1] http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/year-living-changerously-2008-06-02 http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/ye...

sturmeh 10y ago

The only real issue is when they print tournament staples at mythic rare. They've avoided this for the most part. (Except with reprints where they do not wish to devalue the card and affect the secondary market.)

logicfiction 10y ago
I'm not sold that they've avoided this for the most part. Many of the most important tournament cards are mythic rares. BG delirium is one of the top two competitive standard decks currently and 25% of the deck is mythic rares. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-b-g-delirium-2965 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-b-g-delirium-...

mrob 10y ago

There's a legitimate non-money-grabbing reason for having rarer cards: limited formats. MtG is divided into "constructed" formats where you build your deck in advance from any legal cards you can obtain, and "limited" formats where you open sealed packs of cards and build your deck on the fly. It doesn't matter if mythic rare cards are unsuitable for limited because they're unlikely to show up there, so it gives the designers more freedom. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_formats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_formats But I think in practice it's mostly about the money.