Why Is The Modern Format More Expensive Than Ever?

[@josephcourtright8071]

Magic adopted the powercreep model. Now every new sets needs to rotate the game regardless of it being an eternal format or not.

[@jasonkorf7700]

Sadly, this is a case of the monkey paw curling. We as Magic players, wanted direct to Modern sets and etc. We as players got it, but now getting into Modern or acquiring a new Modern deck is ridiculous.

[@malte54]

It's because MH is a bs product. If you open and booster, hit a fetch and and be disappointed, you know the product is bad. People also wanted a modern product to complement modern, not to define it.

[@alreadyforgot2386]

​@@malte54 there's just TOO many cards being printed. I love new sets, but it's overwhelming and frankly I can't keep up.

[@Firewing26]

The average modern deck has hovered around 1k for a long time, they are actually beginning to come down in the last couple years. I remember GR tron originally being $1200 give or take back when grove of the burnwillows was $80+ a piece and same for Karn ascended. Lately prices have become much more manageable. Though by far the biggest barrier to entry is the land base, fetches and dual lands all used to be so much more expensive but still can be daunting. I think right now we are in an artificial bubble due to MH3 release, and the LotR set will only go up in value since they will never be reprinted.

[@JDubsCCGsOnline]

Yeah. I'd like to see the prices compared to around the 2018 Dominaria era. I have a vague memory of the mana base for any 3 color deck being a minimum of $800 then.

[@EasternMetals]

Boros Burn is actually about a 220-230$ buy in, the 360$ list on MTGoldfish is inflated by an extremely optional sideboard card (Challice). Boros burn is one of the few decks that got cheaper to buy into over the years, when I bought into Boros burn, Goblin Guides (was a 20ish dollar card at one point), Fetches, etc pushed the deck to 500-600 iirc. The lack of new cards the deck gets because WotC is not a fan of the archetype really just allows the deck to continue to lower in price as staples in the deck gets reprinted.

[@JayoticMTG]

I was lucky and fortunate enough to slowly pick up the cards for Modern Burn over a 5 year period working minimum wage. Nowadays, the deck’s rotting in my binder because my playgroup switched to Commander. Their decks (Abzan Company, WB Tokens and Grixis Delver) are completely unviable in today’s meta, and that’s what really frustrates me about the Horizons sets.

[@deananderson3883]

Affinity was my first modern deck. The money cards were mox opal, ravenger, steel overseer and inkmoth Nexus

[@cardcasterkel]

Twin! I was playing Affinity and Ponza. The bulk of Affinity's price back then was Mox Opal and Arcbound Ravager.

[@dasboot1244]

You mentioned something about the one ring never getting reprinted because of the licensing. Couldn’t they just reprint the card with a new name and new art call it a secret lair or something? Similar to how howling abomination is a non branded version of the blanca street fighter card

[@husuario2942]

Well they need to point that is a reprint of the one ring and not a new card with the same text and abilities or else players could use 8 one rings per deck so legal problems again

[@malte54]

@@husuario2942 Just ban 1. They could just ban the one ring and reprint it without legendary status. That'd also be a nerf needed.

[@dittmar104]

The first thing wizards would do if they actually wanted to fix this is simply challenger decks. Wizards have proven they no longer suck at building reconstructed decks with their commander precons being powerful and synergistic. These decks should focus on the core of your deck, not the flex spots. They can actively charge modern horizons commander deck prices for beginner modern decks, provided they print good mana bases. I’m talking buy a rakdos challenger deck and you have all your bloodstained mire, blood crypts, and blackcleave caves. The mana bases should be their priority because everything else is subject to change. Their second priority should be staples, your bow masters, ragavans, sheoldred, and thoughtseizes don’t have to be full play sets but need to be in the deck. If not full play sets maybe they can pad it with stuff like extra bonecrusher giants and all that. My ideal version of this product would be five ever green intro decks focusing on covering as many mana bases as possible. Similar to how we have the five commander starter decks. Then we can get the premium decks with each modern set focused on target reprints and maybe mono coloured mana bases. My least favourite idea for these decks would be to go the yugioh structure deck style and have basically half a playable deck with a bunch of bulk so you need to buy two and cut the filler. Maybe it doesn’t have full playsets of lands like bloodstained mire but has 2 and then 1 off of polluted delta and marsh flats to both incentives buying two and providing reprints for multiple colour combinations. But if a rakdos deck exists with your lands, some bowmasters and sheoldred then that’s an awesome jumping off point for both rakdos and will bring down the staggering cost of other black decks. Then maybe do amulet titian, UW control, and literally any izzet deck (probably prowess for an aggro option), and idk maybe GB Yawgmoth. Then you have at least one deck to print 1 copy of each colours channel land into, and enough colour density to cover reprints for all fetches to an extent. If they go with cheaper decks and do the half sets of staples they’ll sell like crazy because commander players will just buy them to upgrade their precon’s with efficient removal and fabulous lands. And people who want to play modern will buy two, shelf the filler and then get singles dropping price of entry like crazy. It would literally be the most lucrative thing wizards could ever do to both make a profit and regain their player bases favour. OFFICIAL constructed formats desperately need an entry level product that is not a limited edition item. The loss of challenger decks has further pushed standard into inaccessible prices, similar is true for pioneer. These formats will fail without a lifeline as people turn to proxy friendly formats like commander and pauper. And secretly the decks will be treasure troves of cores for modern cube which is my real motive 😂

[@tehkuzio]

Is this the time to bring back challenger decks ?

[@1killer911]

Why is it more expensive than ever? It couldn't possibly be that WOTC printed a bunch of super staples that everyone needs and put them exclusively in 10$ booster packs could it?

[@dinonicle97]

Pauper it is

[@webbofmusic]

Proxies are great for anyone that just plays with friends as opposed to tournaments

[@fordesgol7947]

I have to say i was one of the og thopter sword enthusiasts and i gotta man was this deck cheap at first and also fun but got brickwalled so fast. I remember those few upgrades i made back then were cheaper than adding an urzas saga or urza himself and that is wild to think about

[@dittmar104]

It’s honestly crazy universes beyond cards are tournament legal

[@energetek661]

My brother and I used to play modern every week and it was my favorite format. I played dimir faeries which later evolved into dimir control. Super fun deck and I loved playing it, but when LOTR came out I needed now 4 bowmasters, 4 one rings, and 2 sheoldreds. I hung up the towel and quit modern. The prices are too damn high. Simply cant play the deck I love anymore at an affordable price.

[@captaincrazy6936]

The price of modern comes down to the price of the packs. And that price keeps going up.

[@matthewgonzalez5346]

It’s why I play pauper But back in the day I played mono Black discard

[@ashdog9235]

Merfolk being an under dog deck really hurts at 1200

[@tristenmendez2236]

Twin… back then I was having fun with Gruul Scapeshift

[@CrisMW98]

I got into competitive magic (magic in general) a few years ago but I decided to opt out due to how expensive the game is, especially for what it gives. I could be spending that money on a gaming pc, books, training equipments... anything really. I turned to commander and the fun/cost ratio is way higher.

[@luckylooch9696]

Unban Twin :^) My first modern deck was grixis control. Gurmag angler was my homie, but a majority of my kills came from bolt snap bolt.

[@TheBloodyShadow]

I find it kinda funny, how paradox the situation of Modern has become. It is now basically becoming a more expensive version of Standard with somehow roughly the same rotation cycle. Sure, the archetypes might not always change, but all the core staples change. I wanted to build a Modern deck, had all the stuff together after many months and now the deck is useless unless I roughly buy 300-400$ worth of cards. Guess I am out again... Thats one way to make Standard look more affordable with the new rotation cycle.

[@ytimksydney]

I have been told that Bootleg MTG is a place that helps you rent cards from other players if you can't afford the absurd costs of staples to be competitive these days.

[@sambrown9475]

I was a junior in highschool when twin got banned in modern.... Man that makes me feel old. I was too broke to build a competitive modern deck so me and the bois were heavy into Edh at the time and still are although my friends have modern decks now and let me borrow one

[@smegmalasagna]

I don't think that we'll have an IP lock. Wouldn't they just be able to give them the Ikoria godzilla treatment?

[@jamesoakley9333]

😂😂😂😂...that's an easy solution... so WOtC won't be doing that.

[@peggle09]

so many of these decks are more than my Mortgage

[@shryque]

Twin: Homebrew Jeskai Geist

[@pascalraskal9347]

Spliner Twin i play foil yawgmoth in the Moment but my decks before where U/W control elfes dredge jund humans elemental tribal 4color control in that order last yawgmoth

[@cameronmoerer6244]

I actually feel like modern, outside of any decks using the one ring, have actually gotten cheaper. Back in the day when I wanted to get into modern (id say around 2017-2018), it was looking like $900-$1300 for any relevant deck. Now i'm playing Modern for $600 for, what I consider, a pretty competitive deck. The new storm deck is around $400, burn is $300, dimir mill at most $450. There's definitely ways to play modern for way under $1,000. Just don't play The One Ring, simple as that.

[@JWL216]

Modern is just legacy now. And pioneer is the new modern.

[@chesstitan70]

I think we should unban twin, but Im such a Boomer I played boggles as a tiered deck im currently on grixis control with OTJ Jace currently.

[@ixdon]

I think the reason behind all of this is simple: WotC wants to maximize their profits. Old modern with $500 decks that stayed competitve for years didn't bring them much cash. New modern with $1000 decks that you need to buy every 2 years is way more profitable for them

[@JasonUmbergerLordofnothing]

The best way to fix modern and magic as a whole will require the Hasbro as a whole to fix their other brands or sell them off so that Magic is not supporting the entire massive company off it's back. They expanded all those other brands too quickly without competent leadership and now they are leaning on magic as the ROI king that is for WOTC. Development cost sure, but production cost for magic are not that high compared to the other brands. But the demand is through the roof. This is why collector boosters are a thing. They need more and more reasons to keep people buying packs, or else, it's not WOTC that's in trouble, but Hasbro.

[@kazen16]

Only the best cards goes into the deck, and usually the best cards the the expensive cards… tcgplayers just controls the pricing pre release 😂

[@azgaming6806]

Still Rocking Scapeshift

[@avatarofcloud]

Skyrocketed? I remember when the average competitive Modern deck was like 2 grand man. Zendikar fetches being 100 bucks, Thoughtseize being 20-40, shocks being 20+. This is the cheapest modern has ever been.

[@AbstractMarcher]

!TWIN! I remember where I was when it got banned, I was playing modern at my local shop, in between rounds, we found out about the ban. I was on RG TRON at the time. I have Mono Green, but I cannot play it with success due to the need to upgrade cards. Before thunder junction released, I made a video about inaccessibilty and how done I am with modern right now. I have mill, burn and other decks, but they are not optimized and are mostly for fun. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIfMaoWPh8pkmK8si=2g2W72iAO5YP0LE4 Between all of the sets in one year, the insane prices on cards, as well as the inability to reasonably afford cards to improve decks, it is near impossible for the average income. You have to be either rich, lucky, or have a benefit to keep upgrading regularly. I love 60 card formats. I wish I could play regularly again irl, but cannot. Commander is fun, but not the format I love. I'm not as competitive as I used to be, but I still enjoy looking at the meta to see how things are going. Definitely a casually competitive player....emphasis on casual.

[@erfarkrasnobay]

Piece of cardboard for $20 is not "affordable" its like 1/3 of AAA video game or good boardgame

[@Chultae]

This is why people buy proxy's my dude, you can't hate on proxy's and also highlight how inaccessible the game has become financially.

[@codysorenson4298]

2 reasons. One mh3 just came out and two wotc likes money

[@burningpapersun1]

Brushwagg!

[@helhal]

I never played modern format. 😅

[@redshirtnumber3494]

Once you get the land bases for a lot of these modern decks they become pretty inexpensive. I just made it a point to never trade my rare lands and now every deck is about half price. Fortunately for me, my deck is Golgari Rock, which is midrange and it just soaks up whatever new card is good without having to completely shift archetypes. Cards like Orcish Bowmasters I got on the cheap early on and traded for with my collection over the years that I built by playing in tournaments and winning packs and whatnot. For new players tho the entry price is pretty much impossible but there are decks under $100 that can perform well but as a new player you don’t know that and don’t know where to look cause THERE ARE NO MODERN CALLENGER DECKS AND INSTEAD WE GET COMMANDER PRECONS

[@Crit20]

And this is why proxies should be allowed :/

[@Martin-qb2mw]

The main problem is the practice of printing cards that are incredibly powerful and goes in many archtypes as mythic rares. This practice is complete garbage for the players but makes WOTC alot of money of course.

[@Aztracity]

Bro you got a sick ork underbite. I have the opposite my fangs look sharp as hell, and my mom thought i sharpened them while at uni years ago.

[@ThatMillGuyShaf]

Wait what?

[@Aztracity]

@@ThatMillGuyShaf just random thing I noticed. Been watching you for like 2 months now but I realized I wasnt subbed so I left a comment

[@Martin-qb2mw]

Imagine living your life paying 1200 bucks to scam people. IMAGINE

[@onepiecedingsda7558]

Nothing expensive here lol I thought you all Play just with proxys. I mean O dont have many mtg Friends but all the card Stores I played like every one plays some proxy cards so I dont get the problem with the Deck costs If you can Just Proxy the cards I mean thats just what most players do anyways and there is No rule that says you cant proxy in fact you can even Play with illegal cards If your Friends are cool with it in the end you meet with your friends to Play a Boardgame

[@REON-pw5ze]

goyf

[@L8RSTORM]

play pioneer it lots better.

[@virgileolivie2531]

Let’s impose 15 proxies allowed dci sanctioned event. Would help a lot😂

[@scottcampbell9515]

“Staples”. If you are not aiming for the PT you do not need to keep up with the meta.

[@DiscardatRandom]

If you’re playing for prizes you usually do

[@scottcampbell9515]

@@DiscardatRandom “prizes”. A measly $5 in store credit should not warrant someone going into debt to aim for that. RCQs or higher? Sure. FNMs? Nah fam.

[@tokertalk9648]

I sold off my collection after 20+ years of playing because the game is stupid expensive. Got about 80k for my overpriced cardboard in 2021. Bought a used car and invested 60k of it. Now that 60k is worth 125k and im making just over 700 a month in dividends. WOTC can go fk themselves!

[@supwithunerd]

Modern is just becoming legacy at this point. Pioneer is the new modern. That's kinda how im looking it at now

[@ZSAITOSEI]

The cost of building decks was what pushed me out of 60 card formats way back in 2013. I was freshly into college and money was scarce. FNM turned very quickly into commander nights as it first caught on. Now, I'll be honest, we still were suffering under block constructed back in those days, so the loss of cards was much more drastic than it is nowadays. It'd take a lot to get me to come back to the 60 card side. And this definitely confirms my hesitation 😂

[@luisdayvid]

Thank you for discussing this topic. I can only afford 1 deck that can trickle into another deck. FML. I make $70k too.

[@barbiemadsen6688]

1200 dollars for 60 cardboard rectangles is completely insane especialy considering that every month the best deck gets banned out of the meta. unless your playing like vintage or legacy then that's just what you signed up for.

[@BrighamMike]

pffft f twin. t2 UR storm OG days of modern lol