The 5 Biggest Mistakes Made In Magic: The Gathering (2019)

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Happy End Of The Year! You can all do me a solid by taking one second to watch my previous video on Pioneer which got buried due to it being posted on Christmas Eve but not being about Christmas Eve. Would help me out A LOT if you just took a moment to give it a watch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roi5iGN8fZlrn6M

[@gagemorrow6702]

Thanks for everything you do prof, the channel was awesome this year.

[@carlbergstrom2627]

Tolarian Community College I fell out of MTG around Nemesis reasons too numerous to mention. Only to pick it back up this year thanks to some friendly players. I hope that you continue your coursework because a rundown at TCC is exactly what I need to get back those long lost MTG chops. Thanks Prof, and Happy New Year!

[@howdidigethere4855]

You did a great job this year Professor! Happy New Year! 😀

[@frankjrmolley895]

Kool, keep up the great work. Your presentations on Magic are by far irreplaceable, I appreciate your style, information, perspective and opinion. Here's to a great 2020 for you and your family. Thanks! ;)

[@diddymouse816]

Prof you’re probably the single reason I’m ever going to bother reading any of the tie-in books. Unrelated to the video I guess, but thanks for a great year/decade.

[@hydraslair4723]

"What happened to me? 2019 happened to me!" - cries in 2020 -

[@j.p.rogers6731]

he has no idea what's to come...

[@leonbeumelburg5820]

@@j.p.rogers6731 The eldrazi will be here in July, I can feel it...

[@VTindaTV]

"people have work, people have school" well this video didn't age well LOL

[@jonathanfriedman7500]

It just keeps getting worse chief

[@The44sasquatch]

Still crying in 2020

[@jacksonsmith4689]

Thumbnail: Oko and Friends Prof: “Oko isn’t even close to the biggest mistake on this list” Oh boy, we’re in for a fun one!

[@MerchantTV]

The thumbnail is so perfect

[@vioussy]

Hii Merchant I love your videos!

[@tommybrink1989]

I don't know what but it would be awesome to see you two do some colab of some sort. ^^

[@ToothyMTG1]

Woah it’s actually you Merchanttt

[@MassacreVegan]

Thank you for covering the China block!! No one else really has. So much respect for you, Professor.

[@jaya-prime]

Upping this, because so agreed and so happy to hear it from a noted voice like the Professor.

[@benlittle5543]

Yeah. This is the first i have heard about that. Pretty lame.

[@joshsifert6256]

The fact that he says "many magic: the gathering players..." the exact same way makes me so happy

[@gamefreak3072]

its his catchphrase I imagine a doll with a string would say that if he had one.

[@electricmayhem2010]

@@gamefreak3072 Oooh I want one now :3

[@FosterWalsh]

Fun thing that happened this year for me, I wrote my capstone essay for my college english class on how WOTC has been adding in more harmful business practices (Brawl decks and collector boosters) while also removing the MSRP and selling single cards. I got a 97% on it too and it was the most creative essay according to my professor.

[@andrewboyko8304]

Garrett you should send that to the prof. I’m sure he’d love to crib your notes.

[@torysaccount5753]

@@andrewboyko8304 And to Rudy from Alpha Investment. He might be interested as well

[@stevenh3154]

Seriously though. It seems like exactly the kind of thing they would enjoy. Plus it might get you onto the show for a game or two.

[@corpsefoot758]

Passion breeds quality :)

[@Holosavant777]

“4 Oko bans later” I lost it

[@derekwalter4238]

What did you lose? Was it perhaps not lost, but just turned into an elk?

[@raulantolovi3186]

This seems like the thing DesolaterMagic would say

[@The_Murder_Party]

Samuel Parent it’s banned everywhere? Thought it was just pioneer and standard?

[@derekwalter4238]

@@The_Murder_Party and brawl, but I don't know what the 4th one is

[@goldcreeper7376]

@@The_Murder_Party it's tearing modern apart right now, I'd be surprised if it wasn't banned soon

[@KingBobXVI]

"The decidedly bad prose of Greg Weissman" You just made me want to grin a big Leonin grin, I thought, and I did.

[@samconsumespie1012]

I was dead when he said he was an azcaban escapee He does look like that

[@jacksonsmith4689]

He is rocking that beard though

[@naomihopper2730]

See, I was hoping for "I feel like I just escaped Nyx"

[@kristennorth3268]

That's the line at which I hit Like.

[@clicheusername3802]

HARRY POTTER FOR LIFE

[@josuanachname1914]

Thought of Dr. Kimble.

[@MaximumDracula]

"Oko was broko and has turned into a bit of a meme..." Was anyone else expecting him to end that with "joko"?

[@ericjimenez4360]

Agreed I finished it with that and then he said meme :'(

[@namename8004]

Immediately came to the comment section for this post. Smh, prof.

[@Interesting_Failure]

Guilty.

[@andredelgado9562]

Your comment is now a 3/3 elk with no abilitys.

[@chriswright8114]

I get it. kudos for the wordplay. but oko is definitely no joko. my local play group thought I was crazy when he was spoiled because of the lack of spoiled food interaction. I told them there would be plenty. after all, it was a new mechanic and could be expected to be pushed hard. but, even without that interaction, it was easy to tell he was broken. picked up a playset at around 18 bucks when he dropped, even after the bans, still happy with my pickup. power creep will see him unbanned eventually. even if not, still happy for the commander staples.

[@heirkaiba]

Oko aka “Why is this three mana? Why does the +1 remove something? Why is it 4 loyalty? Why does it +2 for life gain?” Oh yea Commander 2019 for not including more reprints!

[@derekwalter4238]

"Why isn't it a dragon?"

[@redstonepro5412]

but oko is a fixable mistake that was unintentional, a complete failure of arena brawl is not easy to fix with bans

[@heirkaiba]

Der Redstone_Pro I’m just memeing btw 😂👌

[@The_Murder_Party]

Seto Kaiba I mean the +1 is 6 words too short.

[@redstonepro5412]

@@heirkaiba ok

[@proteus404]

Magic Judges having to pay money to be judges, is terrible and should be on the list.

[@jazoinklastname4289]

Wtf

[@ernestonapoles4556]

Really?

[@johnbuscher]

@@ernestonapoles4556 I'm not sure that it was 100% confirmed but www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2019/07/judges-announce-new-judge-academy-will-organize-independent-from-wizards-of-the-coast/ You have to pay a yearly license fee to be a judge now according to this article.

[@DraconicWF]

Like to get certified or to work at events?

[@gagemorrow6702]

Totally agree with magic arena at #1, I was excited to play this year but feel burned out by the press of monetization tactics.

[@tommybrink1989]

Yeah, I was like today I'm going to go home and play some arena and then I'm like ...but I can't play brawl. Meh maybe doing something else. If I'd be able to play brawl I'd try grind a bit for rarecards I'd use in brawl... but alas :/

[@RiseInAfterlife]

Yeah, all I do is rush 4 wins with UW Flyers and then log off and hope I got a good chunk of the daily "play whatever" quest. Just want to stock up for Theros which I might have a bit of fun with in the beginning before black-devotion tears up everything.

[@DotHacker99]

Buying packs makes sense but placing microtransactions everywhere tends to make people not want to bother nowadays.

[@666Kazekage666]

They want to make it a mobile game, it's not for longevity otherwise they would have turned mtgo into arena. Which btw is mtgo dead now?

[@666Kazekage666]

And i mean mobile game in the sence that it's like clash of clans and aimed to extort money from you at every turn

[@firethunder834]

"We've heard your discussion and we're adding a very important aspect to Magic Arena in 2020: an autobattler!" *Professor's hair grows ever more gray*

[@user-ez8do2zg1c]

Props to you for mentioning the war of the sparks storytelling, such a disappointment coming out of the great story told for Ixilan!

[@thecovekids2229]

Yup

[@gallodorogaming9964]

This is so true all the hype they had atound this huge battle and the story telling for it was just horrible

[@jaydenyamada2916]

The prequel chapters I think were actually pretty good, it just sucks they came out months after the set.

[@666Kazekage666]

They need to, hire new story people good story people. And just start all over, with new characters and do it right on a new world, make you care about the going ons and regions in that world much like all the sets that took place in dominaria. Let's get away from the jacetice league. Flash forward 500yrs Or something.

[@jonathanrobinson8926]

"That ain't it, Chef." I'm dead.

[@reutermo]

As another guy who shaved of his long hair a couple of years ago I must say I am a bit envious how well this short style fits you. Looking really sharp.

[@Commandersofthecoast]

"This was me at the beginning of the year... annnd this is me now" Wizards. Just look at this hurt man. Let's get it together for 2020

[@Obeify]

Commandersofthecoast honestly I like the way he looks a lot more now

[@RiseInAfterlife]

WotC: * releases Theros * No.

[@andykapsar4667]

youre high. wotcs just gonna keep pushing this dumpster fire further down consumers throats

[@666Kazekage666]

My boy only makes videos now to keep the lights on.

[@AsgneonthebesT]

W e l p

[@Liatriss]

That money for 2000 gems is going straight towards my next LGS prerelease or a local commander events or meet ups. #3 - Thank you for this one. Fantasy needs lore, I played original Warcraft for the lore, left WoW for the greed and lackluster content, but always kept up with the lore even after I stopped playing.

[@stevenolson6684]

"Companion" at 1:17 We should have seen it coming, the foreshadowing was strong...

[@thequadcopter7748]

This ain't it ChEf - The professor 2019

[@jacksonstein809]

I hope that was on purpose!

[@ThunderJunkOC]

The song of my people.

[@sasha-2574]

Greetings from the Philippines! I've been playing and/or collecting Magic Cards since 1996 when "Ice Age" came out.

[@SingerOfW]

It really feels like the War of the Spark story blunder is just one major aspect of a bigger problem with the story in general: Wizards were saying that people don't follow the story unless they can have it for free, but then they remove it from their website and split into many different books that don't even follow the chronological order. And then they just don't publish any story for Theros at all. It's as if they care more about the various side-projects, like the animated series and such, than the actual game they owe their existence to. And don't even get me started about the whole retcon thing.

[@electricmayhem2010]

Wait, there's nothing planned for Theros? I've pretty much dropped out of Magic some months ago

[@Wolf21973]

No story for the upcoming set at all? Shame. I prefer going to KZbin for each planes story. There are amazin videos out there that tell the story with decent voice actors. Sort of like an audiobook

[@Eckarthausen]

Removing the booklets from bundles and replacing it with oversized dice was a 2019 disappointment for me.

[@stephenbiggs6731]

Booklets??

[@bakedbeans9404]

I came back a month ago from an 18yr hiatus, the lack of *any* written instruction booklet in anything was the rudest change.

[@whirlwindsky]

I only really play casual commander as its the most fun for me, and the most affordable. That said Im still bummed on no GP coverage. The way I even started playing magic was I saw a MTG GP video in the recommended from a yugioh tournament I was catching up on, and figured Id check it out. I had no clue what was going on but I saw all the interaction and math and real thought to the game so I decided to learn the game. It was like seeing colors I hadn't seen before (pun intended) and it makes me so upset that the odds of someone else having that experience is now so incredibly low.

[@pangypirate]

baerleon but it’s 100 percent the way a lot of people get into the game most of the mtg players i know were originally yugioh players who went to game stores where mtg had a solid community and there was some level of deck variety

[@n0obz27]

@200StringGuitar Dude, wtf is wrong with you? You can be pissed at something or someone, or disagree, but seriously... Don't tell people to kill themselves. You have no idea how that effects people, and it's just such unneeded venom in life

[@mellowcorpsep6665]

@@n0obz27 to be fair that dude kinda deserved it. you shouldnt be toxic to others if you dont want others to be toxic to you

[@rootregis]

What about insider trading scandal when certain entities were informed about upcoming Pioneer way ahead of player base? What about a change of bans frequency in standard first to once in 2 months and then to whenever they feel like it which makes standard unplayable coz whatever cards you order may become obsolete before you even get a chance to sleeve them?

[@connorv3334]

*Product fails* Wizards: "Should we fix this issue and make it better? Nah, let's cancel it and not do it again."

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

I feel like that's their MO. Rather than cancel a thing, they replace it with a shittier version, then let it limp around for a few years before nobody even cares when they finally nix it completely.

[@Krajcik1964]

Not so sold it's all WotC. Remember, kids. WotC is owned by a parent company.

[@KingBobXVI]

*Product succeeds* Wizards: "What can we change about this product in the future to ensure it fails?"

[@aidanquiett668]

@@KingBobXVI That fits the masters series so well. Wish that I could have gotten more than just masters 25 when I got into the game, cause they sound amazing on paper

[@alicetries5954]

^ this actually

[@Manteee]

"Escaped from...Azcaban" AWWW so close to a Theros Beyond Death pun Prof!

[@duckey6806]

Just started Magic this year but got uninterested then came back 4 months later and I'm hooked. I realized I go scammed for the first spell slinger starter kit which I could've got it for free at my local game store. Thanks professor.

[@vmcampos]

Spell slingers are not free. Welcome Decks are free.

[@duckey6806]

@@vmcampos Sorry I meant welcome Decks.

[@georgeb9977]

Professor. You ABSOLUTELY nailed it with everything. The order you put them in, The things you chose, and I am so glad you are always so honest and keep wizards humble on this stuff.

[@robertallen1106]

If this is how your 2019 video starts, next year’s is going to be a doozy.

[@wnightshade]

I love these video pairs, offering different perspectives. I also love how your channel has grown! I have enjoyed your content from (nearly) the beginning, and it is great watching the quality and scope of your videos grow and improve. Congratulations on your landmark year... another is starting for you in two days!

[@gulusgammamon]

Surprised the Judge's Academy didn't make anything of a mention. Between the lack of clarification of how things and backwards talk from people in charge on reddit who contradicted themselves during their AMA and just the issue of the way Judges aren't being seen as an actual importance of magic.

[@bobsas7544]

Brilliant, incisive, informative, thoughtful assessment - great community service.

[@_Francis_York_Morgan]

Digital Magic will always boggle my mind. When I buy paper cards, I have them forever. I can trade it, give it away, sell it, use it in a bunch of decks, or eventually throw it over to my younger cousin to get them addicted. Digital cards are locked in cyberspace, and they'll be gone when the servers inevitably get shut down. I guess I can see the appeal for those people who only want to play Standard, but even then, a paper player can resell their cards to get some money back. Digital Standard is a one-way money sink.

[@WigglyWoobah]

It's nice for when nobody around you plays.

[@Barragur]

It's 1. More accessible, as some people don't have any local game stores near them, especially outside the US 2. Cheaper, considerably - I got into Magic with Arena. I really loved it, and looked into getting into paper - only to find that any of the decks I liked in Arena, none of which are even competitive ones, will cost me in the hundreds, only to then become useless for the main format a year later. In Arena I can play those decks for free.

[@Jokubasinc]

There are 2 game stores in my country, that's it. I play Arena almost daily, and have not spent any money nor do I plan to. I play standart to get my daily gold, then draft once in a while. It keeps my skills in check for when I actually play in an LGS during prerelease

[@RiseInAfterlife]

It's the only way to play when you want if you live in bumfuck-nowhere or your country only has LGS in bigger cities 3+ hours of driving away.

[@LoxeBi]

Playing arena isn't the only way to play magic. Spelltable.com (which is surprisingly absent from Google searches) let's you use a Webcam, and you could just use discord. Obviously requires knowing/finding a digital group, but I'd rather spend $150 for a commander deck and be done with it, than to pay $200 per 6 months for packs for wildcards for a format that will make those decks rotate out. Just get creative 😃

[@alicealysia]

Fans: "wow pioneer is really fun! Could you add this to arena?" Wotc: "no... but you can have a shitty format called wild... er I mean historic. That you can play once per month"

[@testsieger2000]

@Peter Johnstone 16 sets that have not been implemented at some point of arena's life. Not an easy task, and probably impossible to actually play if you can only get the cards via wildcards. I kinda agree, it's borderline impossible to do well.

[@VeggehGaming]

@Peter Johnstone Not really difficult. Just time-consuming. If their card engine is as robust as they initially advertised you could probably get a set programmed every month. Maybe quicker if they were to out-source the work to some of the plethora of developers out there with Unity experience. Every two months or so just release another set or two to the public to keep an expanding format fresh until it eventually matches up with Pioneer proper. Would probably take 2-2.5 years but almost certainly worth the investment.

[@danieltatar7575]

Jojoforpres It's funny that your comment is equally as true if you write "... WotC is the *bad* guy only wanting the best for themselves."

[@alicealysia]

@Peter Johnstone we're not expecting this to be done over night, we're asking for the historic format to be expanded over the course of years until eventually it and pioneer become one

[@666Kazekage666]

Arena is intended to monetize your addiction like a shady mobile game. You honestly shouldn't play it. Either be whale, or a punching bag for whales. That's your only purpose on arena.

[@moretimeproductions]

Boy were you in for a 2020 treat...

[@ewancasely2381]

Damn Wales is a small place, I can't belive they made a product just for them

[@jacopool5195]

The only thing that the "friend's list" does is remind me that I have no friends.

[@alexgame3357]

Oof.

[@CptJumper]

"That play MTGA"* They need to make it easy to add people you have played against. I'm sure they are worried about BM but after accepting a request it's an easy 'Remove Friend'

[@32kellogg]

“What happened to me? 2019 happened to me!” Just wait until you experience 2020, past-self.

[@saskys]

the mismanagement and outright lies baffle me to no extent. its like they do not want to see mtga prosper. if this game didnt have its cult following, it would have been dead months ago. so much lost potential its sickening to think about it.

[@AnimationRevolution]

The more I see the more I wonder if Arena was just meant to be a short-term cash grab. Maybe they envisioned it to vacuum up a ton of money for a few years, and then be "Duels-of-the-Planeswalker'ed" away. There's not a lot I see that suggests it's a long-term investment.

[@666Kazekage666]

The truth is at this point they're taking advantage of addicted players. They're monetizing addiction. Arena is like a disgusting mobile game, with the benefit of being based on one of the greatest IP's created. Anybody can make a clash of clans rip-off. But only wotc can make mtg. The way they continuously churn out overpriced premium product and sets in a year. They're just milking whales. I saw what they're doing and took a break.

[@Ji-dy2gl]

​@@AnimationRevolution just like magic duels that sold packs and was advertised on steam quite a bit with thousands of players.

[@rafawillians7712]

The biggest mistake in Magic: the Gathering this year is Wizards of the Coast.

[@lucashebberd353]

Are we surprised?

[@dpdurlston-powell3851]

I agree with all of your top 5 and the honourable mention (although I would place the lack of MSRP up a place for its long term impact), but what about mentioning that WoTC went out of the way to kill FNM in 2019? They have dropped FNM cards (to be replaced with any time boosters) and withdrawn sponsorship of LRR's "Friday Nights". WoTC doesn't want us going to stores on a Friday when we could just stay ay home and play arena.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

It's been a hell of a year.

[@smore2096]

It really sucks. I started playing on the back end of 2018, and just went to my first FNM. I got a Lyra Dawnbringer out of the promo pack, and it felt awesome! Then, couple of FNM's later, they just had no more promos. No packs, no cards, nothing. We either got store credit or packs. That was in early February. Now with the year coming to a close, I have amassed about $70 store credit, I have no idea what to do with it. I love playing paper so much, spending a night with friends... WOTC thinks they are making people go to arena by trying to kill of FNM, but with no multiplayer brawl, no people drafts, and only (normally) standard, why would I? I would just go play WoW or Runescape with my friends. Our expectations were low, but come on.

[@smore2096]

Yautja Prime of course not. I love playing paper magic at a semi competitive level. I’m just saying that for the longest time, there have been fnm promos, why did they have to end?

[@666Kazekage666]

Arena is intended to monetize your mtg addiction, it uses the mobile game business model and the more legit players leave. The more it doubles down on disgusting micro transaction. Don't play arena

[@danacoleman4007]

@@blaze556922 bullshit! It's totally about showing up and having fun and playing the game with the awesome expectation to at least get something out of the ordinary. It costs them almost nothing to make a promo card available for Friday night magic. The whole reason for its existence was as an incentive for players to show up. And it was a great incentive at that!

[@Glimmin]

Prof hit the nail on the head with this one. 100% agree with these assessments. Magic's mistakes this year were numerous and of high impact.

[@WTFsenseilol]

This needs to get viral. It pains me to see my favorite game ruin what had been an awesome series of years.

[@dom19945]

Brawl not being 100% available on MTGA makes me shake my head every day.

[@jaded718]

"what's legends of runeterra?" *Googles* "Oh hey, I'll be able to play it on my phone, which is great since I don't have a computer! I could play it all the time if I find it enjoyable, what a novel idea for the year 2010!"

[@aebrewer1019]

Where I'm glad to see you go for the MTG story this past year, I'm would have liked to see just a mention of now the story/lore is hidden behind a pay wall where in the past the story was free to download/read on the website.

[@johnpinkerton5901]

I work at an LGS and I was pretty upset when Standard Showdown was discontinued

[@LopsidedMoz]

Those showdown packs were the only reason i played regularly at my LGS

[@pangypirate]

LopsidedMoz they were excellent. Honestly don’t see a reason to play standard anymore i never cared that much about competitive play and like variety so showdown packs were legit the only reason i played standard

[@DotHacker99]

Seems like a brain deck mistake along with wotc decision to give complete ass fnm promos.

[@thehammerdk5208]

I don't always agree with your takes, but I just wanna say that I really appreciate a TRULY independent, critical voice such as yourself. Have a happy new year, Brian!

[@ericlopiccolo-schmidt6669]

I've played more Magic this year than I have every other year I've been playing combined (I started in '99, but it's been on and off), and that was entirely due to Arena. I've loved most of it, but man is it a bummer to realize that beyond new card sets and new forms of monetization, nothing really new has come to Arena. There's so much low hanging fruit that they could pick off to improve the experience, and it all seems to be largely ignored in favor of finding new ways to try to get people to part with their money. Perhaps it's not surprising then, that after averaging spending about $30 a month on Arena through October, I haven't spent a cent on the game in November or December, and have no desire to do so.

[@richanderson1275]

Ignoring all the fun new play modes does seem a bit unfair, especially as the prof got upset at the start that one was made difficult to play conveniently. Personally I’m loving Historic and enjoying the break from draft (although it doe mean I’m not getting the free gems back I used to)

[@lemteegee]

“That ain’t it, Chef.” Will now be a part of my daily vocabulary. Thanks, chief.

[@elijahdaves1305]

I want the added feature of being able to challenge and send friend requests to recently faced opponents.

[@fredrikolsson2482]

Wizards greedy cynicism this year has made me put the hobby on hold, I'm sad to say.

[@dannykstick]

Don't be. Think of it as way of saving money for other important things!

[@endlessorbaggins8223]

I'm tired of watching spoilers and being hyped for it to end discovering that because I find the product overpriced (like ridicously annoying unjustified priced) that it appears that it is because in fact this product is not made for customers like me. So much product this year that felt in this category. Products that were desirable but that ended not for my budget. And i'm sure that it will be the same for 2020, I can already smell the Commander:Legends being sold over 10$/booster and being disapointed by it after one year of wait and expectations (hope i'm wrong). That said, I will not put things on hold, but I will for sure take a step back and being less invested in the game and choose more wisely products I buy in. I love the surprise that boosters offer but i'm drawn into buying singles over the past years. My purchase habits have changed thanks to WoTC and all their premium products (and even the regular products have increased a lot in price where I live).

[@666Kazekage666]

Im on standby too. Im waiting for them to crash and burn, and another company to buy up the IP. Wotc is just awful. And i hope this new company makes note of how wotc failed

[@joshuamartin9707]

Me watching this in 2020: I can’t wait for the 2020 video. :D

[@CGPublicRadio]

Secret lair TWD intensifies

[@CrayZgunZ]

Dude this is your look, keep it going, "it just works". New to the game of magic myself, glad to see you have tons of content already for newcomers. I played the game and collected cards(witch I still have), from 2000 to mabe 04. Was always a fan of MTG but only started to buy cards and play competitive this month(pioneer ensoul artifact deck). Wish I didn't sleep on MTG for almost 20 years.

[@spectacularbear]

even when I didn't play magic for years, I still read the story every Monday... I can't believe they got rid of it. how little did they pay Weisman and how many books did they think they were going to sell to make this worth it

[@michaelc135]

Excited to hear you're just as excited to play Legends of Runeterra! Hoping to get into the closed beta and can't wait hear your impressions!

[@nikmac2621]

I recently started playing MTG and I'm loving it!

[@iudexumbra609]

It really is a great game. It's anchored by the players. Making some friends playing it will help moderate what WotC does. Beware WotC decision making if you care for your money however.

[@danwalsh666]

i was waiting patiently for the jingle. thanks for including.

[@stephan5574]

For me missing on the list: Massive unjustified price increases (MH, C19, ELD Booser) and premium products that are "not for you" (Mythic boxes, Collector Booster)

[@mzimmerman1988]

Waaaa?!.. First video I've watched in like 6 months. Short hair looks pretty good on you. Have a good 2020!

[@cuckoophendula8211]

Seeing the $449 makes me laugh out loud all over again!

[@totalcoward]

Not only did they monetize as much of Arena as they could, they had to be told by literally hundreds of thousands of players that they were stepping way too far over the line with some of the monetization tactics they were trying with “Historic” cards before they would back down

[@brianhanson7686]

I was so excited for Arena last year. This year, I uninstalled it after having bought 1200 packs previously. Between Historic's starting point, Brawl (in entirety), and Pioneer I have been completely unhappy with essentially everything they did to Arena this year. I also think War of the Spark walkers and Oko were terrible design that drove me away from wanting to play standard. I wen't from being interested in playing modern, historic, and standard to drawing a hard line of commander only due to their mismanagement of Arena.

[@LoxeBi]

I can only agree with this, and im sure so many people can too. I'm not paying 2x rent for a card game

[@vancejohnson5807]

The brawl thing was the most crushing to me this year. That is definitely my favourite way to play the game on arena. When you look at hearthstone they have standard, wild, arena, solo adventures and battlegrounds. If mtg wants to compete they gotta catchup to their peers.

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

Wait magic arena only got a friend list recently??

[@jairovsleon]

Yeah, but is barely functional, is just there to say that they put it

[@mthlay15]

Like last month or something

[@saskys]

define friend list first. what do you expect to see when i say to you there is a friend list? what kind of features do you expect it to have? because it has none. its literally what the name suggests, a list. with your friends names. thats the end. so no, mtga still has no friends list.

[@testthewest123]

Arena is not meant for players with friends.

[@alexmendoza9645]

Hey take it easy on Wizards it's still in beta bahahaha

[@alexandreferreira8346]

Great list, thanks for sharing! My personal list: 1. Pioneer; 2. Not having Arena for Mac; 3. Brawl; 4. Novels; 5. GP prize wall.

[@indykwatra2237]

I tried to watch this video, but my laptop turned into a 3/3 Elk

[@dragonknite314]

So did my tablet

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

And my axe!

[@Hynotama]

Love the haircut. It suits you. The bit of grey makes it even better. Look at you rocking that "dad bod"!

[@GrizzledYoungVet]

"What happened to me? 2019 happened to me!" That hit hard

[@alexanderdnieves5286]

"That ain't it Chef" I lost it😂

[@BahamutLogan]

Another dishonorable mention: War of The Spark Mythic Edition.

[@ferdithetank7535]

I think it's safe to say all Mythic Editions were opportunistic cash-grabs, executed via one of the worst customer services ever known. Greed demons are real.

[@michaelcassidy5022]

After clicking this video, I kept looking to my lovely framed uncut sheet waiting at each number for him to mention it. I honestly think the scale of this blunder is one of the biggest in MtG's history, which makes me wonder how Professor skipped over it.

[@edschramm6757]

i don't think the concept was bad, which i think is why it got glossed over. they were high prices, but you, generally, got something of value from them, and as such they fall in behind Throne's Deluxe edition. Wars in particular got JTMS and Ugin. if you are referring to the issue with orders not being processed properly, i think that falls under scandal-esq scenarios which he pointed out he wouldn't touch on. i flag them as such because it was a problem on e-bays end if i recall. i think where they went wrong with mythic was they didn't make it a print-to-demand instead of the limited quantity. they had to expect that with two cards that were as expensive as those two, even completely ignoring the other 6 walkers in the pack. On their own Ugin and Jace at the time pretty much covered the full value of the box. even now, a normal (not mythic edition) copy of JTMS is sitting over 100$, and ugins around 50. if someone is going to spend the money for those cards and they hear about this, why not spend the extra 100$ or so and get 6 extra walkers, (two of whom are also standard-playable) and a bunch of extra booster packs to boot? because the quantities were so limited, they should have known the servers would start exploding. but someone also screwed up when the posting went up, so they had to back it out and put it back in, but that was also screwed up, so the people who were first didn't actually end up with the product. though it was pretty much a coin flip whether you got into the server on any given attempt

[@00031849]

Can't wait for the 2020 version

[@adavidavis2762]

only 2 mins in but I just have to say, that as a modern player, oko aint gone for all of us. Modern is all I really play and the format is hurting real bad right now because of him... :(

[@adavidavis2762]

So to add to my initial thoughts, I don't really care about most of the points in this video. For me the number one point of magic is to be fun, and because I don't play arena, this really just entails wotc making good choices in regards to printings and bannings. In this regard 2019 has been a real up-and-down season. The war of the spark planeswalkers are hugely problematic in terms of gameplay as they either homogenise decks (see Karn, the Great Creator) or place unreasonable and unenjoyable deck-building constraints for entire formats (baby tef and Narset). Then came modern horizons with Hogaak who essentially ruined the format for a time but once he was banned, horizons probably had a neutral impact on the format with cool or healthy cards like the forces, soulherder and FoF balancing out less-fun cards like Wrenn and Six, astrolabe, coatl and plague engineer. After that came the banning of faithless looting and the unbanning of SFM, this (for about a month) made modern by far the best magic format (in my biased opinion) and was truly a joy to play. After Eldraine's release the enjoyability of the format has been gradually declining with the main culprits being OUaT, Oko and veil of summer. It has been painful watching the careful pruning wizards has been conducting on other formats (pioneer) while modern continues to slide downhill, and it is a shame to not get at least a thought from the prof here. Baseline: overall 2019 has actually been an incredibly poor year for play-design and this is one of the greatest possible threats to magic as a game. If it's not fun people won't play it.

[@filippodardi2180]

Oko is 70% of the meta, hope he soon gets the hammer.

[@adavidavis2762]

@@filippodardi2180 I'm honestly yet to meet someone who doesn't want him banned :)

[@filippodardi2180]

@@adavidavis2762 As much as he enforces the grindy, powerful gameplay people wants Modern to have, he makes the whole thing revolve around himself. That's problematic.

[@BacchusGames]

As someone who doesn't play modern, what decks does it see play in? How is it plaguing the format?

[@n8m837]

Great vid. We must also not forget what Wizards did with their Secret Layer drops to the LGS as well, which is a big issue. There was no reason why they couldn't toss the shops a Christmas bone like ordering the drops at a LGS and adding an extra $1+ to the price while still having it delivered at home. Plus it would increase walk-ins during the holiday season

[@dragonlordblazer13]

My Inner Childhood Nostalgia appreciates the PBS-esque outro Professor, just saying.

[@dannykstick]

I thought I was the only one! The thank you really hits it close to home

[@mrnixon2287]

Love your work Professor. Keep up the fantastic effort.

[@evilal20]

*"This ain't it, Chef" -Prof.*

[@CSDragon]

1:40 "has turned into a bit of a _JOKO_ " come on man that was obvious

[@snakeman830]

Maybe Prof is a Guild Wars fan?

[@MAnnnooo1]

I can never play Brawl on Wednesdays. : (

[@matahari9858]

hasbro exec: what's this new 'format' thing i've been hearing about arena dev: hey it's called brawl, it's pretty great, it's like commander except - exec: would people stop buying packs dev: ? exec: would people spend less money on packs if they played more brawl dev: i mean, probably, strictly speaking, but - exec: don't let them play it dev: but we programmed it and everything exec: don't let them play it!

[@leobozkir5425]

😂

[@jetsetradio5441]

@@matahari9858 I want to hear someone give an official statement as to why it is only Wednesdays. I would be GENUINELY impressed if whatever was said wasn't downright offensive.

[@metalthrashingnerdpodcast9864]

Find some friends and play oathbreaker. Grow those little formats that wizards hasn't tried to make money off of yet.

[@edschramm6757]

i had a class on wednesday, immediately followed by work. as someone who also closes tuesday nights, i pretty much slept until i had to get ready for class. usually if i got any games in at all, it was me playing a couple matches during class. im not a great student, but i passed the class with a B. i'm not OPPOSED to playing oathbreaker, but it's something i have very limited interest in, in part because the style of deck i would want to play isn't very functional within singleton formats. i can play grixis planeswalkers, which is permissible, but i really like mono-red burn. which doesn't work nearly as well in singleton formats

[@Kitsune-Chaos]

I'm not an active MtG collector or player, but I absolutely love the intro to this video.

[@jeanmarais337]

When Magic started, competitive play grew organically and was vital to it's longterm success. I don't see why that would change as dramatically as it has.

[@FMagl]

Arena got me into Magic. I have a playset of Lilianas of the Veil now, a few fetch lands... I've been to multiple prereleases, spent a lot on Standard... So a win for Wizards overall ~_~ I agree about MSRP. Not having a standard asking price is aggravating to me. I know people like Collector's Boosters, but I don't care for them. They upped the price from the announcement, and you can get non-foil PW deck planeswalkers........

[@bluezamx814]

Commander 2019 is high on my personal list. I bought the Token deck and have enjoyed to play it, but it isn't even remotely close to the power level of pre-2018 decks. I hope the Commander year 2020 will actually be a good Commander year as well.

[@zacharydrum]

Great information and perspective! Always appreciate this! Only gripe? I think your play button isn't level in the background. :)

[@Isolanporzellator]

Everytime I get news about what's being done to Magic Arena I get reaffirmed that deleting it was the right decision.

[@xChikyx]

it lasted just 2 days in my PC, with around a total of 2 hours of play

[@Isolanporzellator]

@@xChikyx I was playing it a fair bit in beta and from a purely technical standpoint I really liked it - they did a good job turning MtG into a digital experience that actually feels smooth to play. However, all the mobile game esque fuckery with gems as second currency, the terrible "crafting" system and lack of options besides the standard format just killed it for me and it seems WotC has just been doubling down on that sort of stuff since I left rather than making real improvements.

[@xChikyx]

@@Isolanporzellator well, WotC are desperstely trying to get money where they can... i'm not surprised

[@SnowWhiteMR2]

I completely agree with you on coverage. I used watch tons of gran prix and pro tours on KZbin. I would look forward to the next big event to watch high level play and hear deck thechs. Now I don't even really know what I'm watching or what the stakes are, not to mention there's less of it.

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

The brawl precons thing was pretty unfortunate. Recently my LGS finally got more and so I could get them for a cool 35$ but it was unreal how for for months before hand they were in the 60$-80$. I’m really enjoying myself with retooling the chulane and Gwyn decks do for wizards to pull what they did was shameful.

[@Bored_Barbarian]

I got 3/4 at Target for $20 at the hype of the craze.

[@Bored_Barbarian]

GamerBear I actually did legwork, asked in the back and told them I’d definitely buy 1 of each. They checked stock as their vendor was lazy and pulled out 3/4 lol

[@Bored_Barbarian]

Will Will maybe that’s the problem with you trying to “invest”. Hope you take a loss bro

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

mlouden03 I live in Montreal. The targets closed down years ago and the Walmart’s don’t get products like that on the shelves. It only ever gets booster packs, those mystery cube ripoffs and planeswalker decks.

[@el_maoo]

thanks prof. you are always able to articulate, what we all feel.

[@rickyarmstrong3074]

The handling of the War of the Spark mythic edition has to be on here.

[@RidleyIgnatiousAero]

Releasing the one Signet to replace them all in a highly limited set was a really big blunder. also, still no Commander on Arena, so I personally have no interest in playing.

[@elviejopotter]

"Oko was broko". I'm so done I can't even

[@RiseInAfterlife]

And he is still broko and currently ruining even Modern. imagine that, he is so broken that he ruins everything he touches except Vintage. WotC should fire their entire playtesting department.

[@elviejopotter]

@@RiseInAfterlife I don't play modern but I heard some madmen are using Oko in infect decks.

[@RiseInAfterlife]

@@elviejopotter He is used in a huge amount of decks, Urza, Infect and so on. Sultai Deaths Shadow even became a thing due to Oko. ... A Deck that has no interest in keeping a high life total whose easiest way to lethal is with Temur battlerage abandoned both fo those for Oko. As a Jund Death's Shadow player it justs disgusts me. However he is used in way more decks. You can say he is played in anything that includes blue and green which adds up to almost 40% of decks running Oko.

[@elviejopotter]

@@RiseInAfterlife I guess the only hope to get back an nearly state of "wealthy enviroment" in to Ban Oko in a Gitaxian Probe level and make an statement of "never doing this kind of stuff never Again".

[@RiseInAfterlife]

@@elviejopotter Oko is at Vintage power level, the only Format he did not ruin when touching it. As such: Oko is a Vintage card that was printed in a Standard set. Fire everyone playtesting at WotC as they are clearly incompetent. Also fire the one who greenlit Oko..... You know what? Also fire the one who designed it. Fire Mark Rosewater.

[@tcgtingles926]

Great analysis as always. The one that affected me most was the Mythic Edition distribution. I tried so many times almost maxing my credit card, and still couldn't get any.

[@88Gelu]

This list is so freaking on point, though I’d put the mishandling of the Magic story as the biggest mistake. You can’t have a story that has been developing for basically 10 years be thoughtlessly thrown at a writer who has little to no investment in the MTG universe. What’s more, there are many way that the Chandra and Nissa relationship could have been handled and retconning it in such a blatantly toxic way just destroys our perception of the characters and alienates gay and bi members of the magic community.

[@andrewboyko8304]

88Gelu when did the relationship get retconned? Why am I just learning of this?

[@88Gelu]

Andrew Boyko the Prof mentioned it in the video, but the retcon occurred in the second War of the Spark novel where Weisman wrote that she (I’m paraphrasing) “likes distinctly male (hyper masculine) men and was never interested in girls”. The prof points out briefly in this video that their is some evidence to support that WotC was behind this decision so they could market to places like China

[@andrewboyko8304]

88Gelu That’s such crap, I hate how companies are willing to erase representation just to try and keep China happy.

[@Frosthief]

It’s almost as if they never cared about you people in the first place and are just virtue signaling...Oh wait.

[@iudexumbra609]

Nissa and Chandra is head canon for me, and I hope for the future, if possibly in vain. I like how the stories until War made it a more or less organic evolution into it. Then it died.

[@Mordra]

Kinda late comment but I stopped playing/caring about MTG bcos of the first novel, it was so bad that it made me actually quit the game entirely (I spent a ton of time reading and preparing for that novel y'know). Now, more than a year later, I'm slowly binge watching your vids to see what I did miss. Thanks prof!

[@mindustrial]

"and even Heartstone" ... nope Blizzard does a lot of mediocre things, but one thing they do well; create stories for fans.

[@wadewilson5712]

......no blizzard did create good stories now they are shit see BFA for current example

[@deathpunch2169]

Except you are an Overwatch fan of course...

[@mindustrial]

Overwatch is just like anything else by Blizzard that isn't an RTS; overhyped mediocrity

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

@@mindustrial Woah there pal Diablo games are good once the expansion drops.

[@Velral]

@@mindustrial Finally someone gets it. This Blizzard is not the Blizzard we knew and loved 10+ years ago. And Overwatch was the biggest dissapointment for me in the last 5 years.

[@BostonDeadHead]

Been loving MTG Forge lately. Been doing all my playtesting with it.

[@Xotame]

I zoned out and had to rewind when I misheard "It's okay to make a product for Wales"

[@rafaeldavis2615]

That's how it was spelled in the captions, too. (I'm hearing impaired so I sometimes need to watch with captions)

[@Yuzuki1337]

Now you made me curious as to what magic cards in welsh looked like :p