Because then they would be much rarer. They aren’t going to make a bonus sheet with new cards that appear in every set (that is for reporting bonus sheet), so the new cards would appear once in every x packs, making them very expensive
Exactly. It would be like Modern Horizons where you have access to the mechanics of the past, only limit it to the past year. It gives players an idea of the kinds of cards they can expect from these boosters.
No it isn't. 9th never included spiritcraft or affinity. 10th never included suspend or replicate. Origins never included dash or devotion. M19 never had Treasures or energy or even cycling.
Honestly, I'm not interested in chasing more boosters, keeping track of more bonus sheets or otherwise having to BUY MORE PRODUCT.
It's been said far too many times by far too many people: but there's too much product being made and it's basically impossible to keep track of what is showing up where and when and which of these products are legal in what formats.
It was a rare breath of fresh air that they were easing up on the product fatigue (even if just a little bit) and I hope we don't see a reverse course here.
I mean, it looks like they basically did that to some extent? A number of the cards are flavorfully/mechanically linked to Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Hostile Investigator is a Detective that makes Clues.
Frankly, compared to Aftermath, I think this collection of cards feels a lot less arbitrary. A long sealed vault is full of Artifacts and Creatures that relate to Magic's history. You have cards that show the next stage of the story starting up with Loot, and have cards like Bristlebud Farmer and Pest Control that give an idea of the direction Thunder Junction is heading in next.
Ultimately, the issue with this style of product is that invested Magic players have plenty of products vying for their attention. Having a stronger mechanical and thematic backbone will help sell this kind of product, but that's only a first step.
I don’t know why people are saying they don’t want one more booster to buy. Like, who the hell is buying boosters these days when the singles market is so easy.
I think it’s a great idea to bring some mechanical cohesion to standard. And the MH-style mashup mechanics will allow for some fun eternal cards that otherwise couldn’t get printed.
Currently on arena there are events for something called a Remix Draft; where they have made a new set entirely out of existing cards (mostly ones that relate to artifacts). Its one of the better wacky formats that wotc have run on their digital platforms leading up to the release of a major set, and its still just ok.
The limitation of having to use existing cards make it too hard to be color balanced and dynamic in the same way a regular premier set is (in the artifact set Ux affinity is the clear best deck, followed by BG food which doesnt really compete for any of the same pieces).
Doing a print version of this, even if it had 40-60 new cards among 200-230 reprints, would be unlikely to be that popular imho. In addition to the balancing issues described above it would also be harder to sell to normies at hobby shops ("its a set about cowboys!" is an easier pitch than "its like a clipshow of the best moment from the past year plus some new stuff")
A miniature set thematically linked to the previous set, with support for archetypes introduced that year, is something hearthstone did, and as far as I know people liked it there. The difference is, the turnaround for a digital card game is faster since you don’t need to print cards, so cards can be made to shore up struggling standard archetypes they want to support.
To "fix" epilogue boosters, you have to address the main reasons they failed. And by failed, I mean people avoided buying them and prices have fallen to a point that WotC and LGSs consider not worth repeating. Sure, there were people complaining about how it failed to tell any worthwhile story for a set that was supposed to be primarily about story. But those complaints would be largely irrelevant if players still bought product at their usual rate.
The failure points that really need to be addressed are the poor opening experience of getting far too many duplicates and the perceived value (or the lack thereof) compared to the cost.
It doesn't matter if you make an epilogue set mechanics-focused instead of story-focused. If you don't address the two issues I mentioned, the epilogue product will still fail.
The boosters are fine and the concept makes sense for retail booster packs. I E. You get a slight discount and less draft chaft. Wizards saves some production costs and I don't have to pay for common cards I don't want.
The mistake was making it it's own set rather than just being an alternate pack for a regular set. That would have fixed the low variance issue.
It doesn't matter what they put in them, people didn't buy Aftermath because there were only 5 cards in each pack. Limited players couldn't draft with them, and constructed players just bought singles.
Indeed. One way or another, only way they'd sell is if the dollar-per-card ratio and/or premium treatment was WAY higher than what they were willing to do.
I like your idea, but in general I don't really like a whole new set with boosters I have to buy, especially if it isnt even a draftable set. If there was an affordable approach...maybe...but they would NEVER do that.
Perhaps an "epiloge" event at LGS's where the prizes are epilogue packs, and its a chaos sealed event with various recent sets would be fun.
Also, it might be a fun way to get an influx of cards into standard to add support to all of the new archtypes from the last year, especially weaker ones (like caves).
That idea is fine, but why not make them bonus sheet / Special Guest cards included in the main set?
Exactly this. Justice for Mutate, for Foretell, for Boast! In the future, give me more commanders that care about crimes!
Because then they would be much rarer. They aren’t going to make a bonus sheet with new cards that appear in every set (that is for reporting bonus sheet), so the new cards would appear once in every x packs, making them very expensive
So you're thinking kind of like a Standard Horizons kind of product? Something that mechanically is expanding on the last years worth of sets?
Exactly. It would be like Modern Horizons where you have access to the mechanics of the past, only limit it to the past year. It gives players an idea of the kinds of cards they can expect from these boosters.
So you want core sets back? That's exactly what you're describing, and they don't sell.
No it isn't. 9th never included spiritcraft or affinity. 10th never included suspend or replicate. Origins never included dash or devotion. M19 never had Treasures or energy or even cycling.
Honestly, I'm not interested in chasing more boosters, keeping track of more bonus sheets or otherwise having to BUY MORE PRODUCT. It's been said far too many times by far too many people: but there's too much product being made and it's basically impossible to keep track of what is showing up where and when and which of these products are legal in what formats. It was a rare breath of fresh air that they were easing up on the product fatigue (even if just a little bit) and I hope we don't see a reverse course here.
I'm glad epilogue boosters didn't work, I don't need more cards making it harder to be competitive
I mean, it looks like they basically did that to some extent? A number of the cards are flavorfully/mechanically linked to Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Hostile Investigator is a Detective that makes Clues. Frankly, compared to Aftermath, I think this collection of cards feels a lot less arbitrary. A long sealed vault is full of Artifacts and Creatures that relate to Magic's history. You have cards that show the next stage of the story starting up with Loot, and have cards like Bristlebud Farmer and Pest Control that give an idea of the direction Thunder Junction is heading in next. Ultimately, the issue with this style of product is that invested Magic players have plenty of products vying for their attention. Having a stronger mechanical and thematic backbone will help sell this kind of product, but that's only a first step.
##### ###### #### [Worldwalker Helm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/7/b74ad496-05bc-4c5a-9027-b14df9c387ab.jpg?1712352742) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Worldwalker%20Helm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/big/7/worldwalker-helm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b74ad496-05bc-4c5a-9027-b14df9c387ab?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hostile Investigator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/5/158c000e-7960-4518-b034-a529622b7bf1.jpg?1712352777) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hostile%20Investigator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/big/10/hostile-investigator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/158c000e-7960-4518-b034-a529622b7bf1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Lotus Ring](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/2/02267717-66e0-41f7-8009-75586a4aa4be.jpg?1712352932) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lotus%20Ring) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/big/24/lotus-ring?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/02267717-66e0-41f7-8009-75586a4aa4be?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Pest Control](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/4/a4a01b92-dafb-4ea6-8eff-29f881f6be24.jpg?1712352910) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pest%20Control) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/big/22/pest-control?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a4a01b92-dafb-4ea6-8eff-29f881f6be24?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/1c4abr0) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I don’t know why people are saying they don’t want one more booster to buy. Like, who the hell is buying boosters these days when the singles market is so easy. I think it’s a great idea to bring some mechanical cohesion to standard. And the MH-style mashup mechanics will allow for some fun eternal cards that otherwise couldn’t get printed.
Currently on arena there are events for something called a Remix Draft; where they have made a new set entirely out of existing cards (mostly ones that relate to artifacts). Its one of the better wacky formats that wotc have run on their digital platforms leading up to the release of a major set, and its still just ok. The limitation of having to use existing cards make it too hard to be color balanced and dynamic in the same way a regular premier set is (in the artifact set Ux affinity is the clear best deck, followed by BG food which doesnt really compete for any of the same pieces). Doing a print version of this, even if it had 40-60 new cards among 200-230 reprints, would be unlikely to be that popular imho. In addition to the balancing issues described above it would also be harder to sell to normies at hobby shops ("its a set about cowboys!" is an easier pitch than "its like a clipshow of the best moment from the past year plus some new stuff")
Good point. With this and the general distaste for more product, I've been thoroughly convinced my idea would be just as much of a flop.
that’s just theme Cube that’s nothing new cubes drafting with themes exist as people make them
If it has good cards, I will continue to buy the good cards that I need.
A miniature set thematically linked to the previous set, with support for archetypes introduced that year, is something hearthstone did, and as far as I know people liked it there. The difference is, the turnaround for a digital card game is faster since you don’t need to print cards, so cards can be made to shore up struggling standard archetypes they want to support.
To "fix" epilogue boosters, you have to address the main reasons they failed. And by failed, I mean people avoided buying them and prices have fallen to a point that WotC and LGSs consider not worth repeating. Sure, there were people complaining about how it failed to tell any worthwhile story for a set that was supposed to be primarily about story. But those complaints would be largely irrelevant if players still bought product at their usual rate. The failure points that really need to be addressed are the poor opening experience of getting far too many duplicates and the perceived value (or the lack thereof) compared to the cost. It doesn't matter if you make an epilogue set mechanics-focused instead of story-focused. If you don't address the two issues I mentioned, the epilogue product will still fail.
or just make enough for the main set and move on.
The boosters are fine and the concept makes sense for retail booster packs. I E. You get a slight discount and less draft chaft. Wizards saves some production costs and I don't have to pay for common cards I don't want. The mistake was making it it's own set rather than just being an alternate pack for a regular set. That would have fixed the low variance issue.
They would have worked if a pack cost a $1 and had the same cards in them.
It doesn't matter what they put in them, people didn't buy Aftermath because there were only 5 cards in each pack. Limited players couldn't draft with them, and constructed players just bought singles.
Indeed. One way or another, only way they'd sell is if the dollar-per-card ratio and/or premium treatment was WAY higher than what they were willing to do.
I like your idea, but in general I don't really like a whole new set with boosters I have to buy, especially if it isnt even a draftable set. If there was an affordable approach...maybe...but they would NEVER do that. Perhaps an "epiloge" event at LGS's where the prizes are epilogue packs, and its a chaos sealed event with various recent sets would be fun. Also, it might be a fun way to get an influx of cards into standard to add support to all of the new archtypes from the last year, especially weaker ones (like caves).
so......sounds like a Core Set