4 ms·

The subscription model sounds pretty great as a player: pay some fee for each new set (up-front or monthly over the time it's legal in Modern), play with whatev

The subscription model sounds pretty great as a player: pay some fee for each new set (up-front or monthly over the time it's legal in Modern), play with whatever sets you have access to in whichever format they're legal in.

lbotos 7y ago
The problem with that is it sort of invalidates their whole "booster pack" model. Magic is also a "family" of games, so they'd either need to do some sort of tiering: - pay fee for unlimited phantom drafts - pay more fee for full sets (no drafting) - pay most fee for unlimited drafts and full set It does remove a bit of the gambling/addicting element, but it would get players like me to "support" them more.
- Pulcinella 7y ago
  Unfortunately Mark Rosewater(lead designer for MTG) has said that the booster pack model is basically what provides enough money that the business side is comfortable with providing the size of the budget the design side receives. He seems to believe that moving away from the addiction/gambling element would mean less money, fewer designers and design resources, and fewer, worse, and more infrequent production of new cards.
  - neutronicus 7y ago
    Fantasy Flight makes "living" card games where new cards are periodically released and you can (supply chain permitting) buy (the pack containing) whatever card you need deterministically. And it works out basically how you say. The games are popular and exciting when new, since you can buy all the cards for cheap(er than Magic) and balance / design doesn't have a huge card pool to think about. Unfortunately once the competitive meta encompasses hundreds of dollars worth of product the dynamic flips on its head. The community is composed almost entirely of people who've "bought in" so the options for casual play are actually much more limited than they are for Magic, and organized play doesn't have the resources to address balance concerns or (more importantly) keep putting in enough events with good enough prizes to keep people involved in the scene. And this isn't even touching the elephant in the room: the only reason there are spaces (i.e. game stores) in which to play is because Magic keeps the lights on for game stores.
    - moate 7y ago
      While LCGs are great, they're only able to exist because of the money from CCGs. They're still super niche when compared to games like Pokemon, M:tG, or Yu-Gi-Oh. Those games get people in stores spending money. Like you said, that's the elephant in the room. Magic is hugely profitable in its current form. There's no way they change that. They keep doing "known quantity" products like the Commander decks, or the other pre-cons, but we all know those aren't nearly as desirable. As someone who works for a tabletop gaming company, and knows a little bit about how the sausage is made, you absolutely have to use things like blind boxes/boosters to pay the bills to make more "customer friendly" products that sell at 1/5th the rate.
Agentlien 7y ago
If you'd have access to all cards, that'd make for a very different game. For me, as a casual player, trying to make decks work with what I have and making calculated decisions of which cards to spend my money (real or virtual) on is a big part of the charm of the game. Also, about the comment in parenthesis: I'm guessing you meant Standard. In that case, it makes sense. If you really meant Modern, I'd find it problematic. Since Modern doesn't rotate (unlike Standard), that would make it an accumulative cost unless you decide to deliberately drop the ability to play with cards which are still legal.
- falsedan 7y ago
  Yeah I did mean Standard, I guess that edit didn't stick

lbotos 7y ago

The problem with that is it sort of invalidates their whole "booster pack" model. Magic is also a "family" of games, so they'd either need to do some sort of tiering: - pay fee for unlimited phantom drafts - pay more fee for full sets (no drafting) - pay most fee for unlimited drafts and full set It does remove a bit of the gambling/addicting element, but it would get players like me to "support" them more.

Pulcinella 7y ago
Unfortunately Mark Rosewater(lead designer for MTG) has said that the booster pack model is basically what provides enough money that the business side is comfortable with providing the size of the budget the design side receives. He seems to believe that moving away from the addiction/gambling element would mean less money, fewer designers and design resources, and fewer, worse, and more infrequent production of new cards.
- neutronicus 7y ago
  Fantasy Flight makes "living" card games where new cards are periodically released and you can (supply chain permitting) buy (the pack containing) whatever card you need deterministically. And it works out basically how you say. The games are popular and exciting when new, since you can buy all the cards for cheap(er than Magic) and balance / design doesn't have a huge card pool to think about. Unfortunately once the competitive meta encompasses hundreds of dollars worth of product the dynamic flips on its head. The community is composed almost entirely of people who've "bought in" so the options for casual play are actually much more limited than they are for Magic, and organized play doesn't have the resources to address balance concerns or (more importantly) keep putting in enough events with good enough prizes to keep people involved in the scene. And this isn't even touching the elephant in the room: the only reason there are spaces (i.e. game stores) in which to play is because Magic keeps the lights on for game stores.
  - moate 7y ago
    While LCGs are great, they're only able to exist because of the money from CCGs. They're still super niche when compared to games like Pokemon, M:tG, or Yu-Gi-Oh. Those games get people in stores spending money. Like you said, that's the elephant in the room. Magic is hugely profitable in its current form. There's no way they change that. They keep doing "known quantity" products like the Commander decks, or the other pre-cons, but we all know those aren't nearly as desirable. As someone who works for a tabletop gaming company, and knows a little bit about how the sausage is made, you absolutely have to use things like blind boxes/boosters to pay the bills to make more "customer friendly" products that sell at 1/5th the rate.

Agentlien 7y ago

If you'd have access to all cards, that'd make for a very different game. For me, as a casual player, trying to make decks work with what I have and making calculated decisions of which cards to spend my money (real or virtual) on is a big part of the charm of the game. Also, about the comment in parenthesis: I'm guessing you meant Standard. In that case, it makes sense. If you really meant Modern, I'd find it problematic. Since Modern doesn't rotate (unlike Standard), that would make it an accumulative cost unless you decide to deliberately drop the ability to play with cards which are still legal.

falsedan 7y ago
Yeah I did mean Standard, I guess that edit didn't stick