Tolarian Winds: Aftermath | The Why Of 5 Card Magic The Gathering Booster Packs

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Be sure to also watch Tomer Brings Budget Commander And Cookies | Shuffle Up & Play #25: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZyrZ395m7SdiZo

[@Kuryux]

12:40 SIR got ignored there, shame. That was the March product

[@hazalmohammed]

Was this the last episode? There wasn't a "Next Time" at the end of this episode.

[@darthowl100]

The Yugio treatment. Yugio has boosters with something like 6 or 7 cards in it.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

WOTC: We packed so much STORY into this set that we need a micro set of only 5/15 cards in a booster pack to tell it to you!...PLEASE BUY OUR PRODUCT 10 years later WOTC executive who thought of this sits around a fire with their children: Did I tell you the STORY of how I ripped off millions by having the genius to change a 15 card pack into 5? :P LOL

[@slaytronic]

the future of magic is 4-8 yearly standard able 50 card sets but 5-12 different versions of each card which i actually support because i am no longer a cardboard sucker i only play on arena and it's already the cheapest way to play make all the sets only 50 cards and woah arena is basically free :)

[@mikotagayuna8494]

Nahiri: *gets killed, dismembered, compleated and falls to her apparent death while being crushed by a skyclave* Nahiri: *walks it off in Aftermath*

[@ZeroHourOtaku]

10/10 writing

[@thatepicwizardguy]

yup. pretty stupid.

[@ernestosalinas1091]

"We killed Nahiri by having a giant rock fall over her." Ok and ¿What was Nahiri's ability? "Moving roc- oh"

[@untrainedear]

#builtdifferent

[@TheBlackCat1337]

She has gotten out of worse situations before. I forget what. But I'm sure this is just a Tuesday to her.

[@YawgmothWasRight]

The thing I remembered the other day, is there's a reason we had blocks. Three sets is perfect for introducing a setting, then creating a climax, and finally resolving the main event. Not all stories need three sets, but this one surely did. It also feels weird that the "big change to the Multiverse" happens in Aftermath, almost like an afterthought. All in all I'm grateful for the leak, as it made a lot of people retract their pre-orders, and that will hopefully send a message to the executives.

[@TonyMariani]

There were actually 4 sets that tied directly to the story. There were seeds in Kamigawa and Streets, then the main story kicked off in Dominaria United

[@YawgmothWasRight]

@@TonyMariani No, by that logic the Amonkhet block would be part of the War of the Spark story. By the same logic, wouldn't this story have actually started when Yawgmoth got sent to Phyrexia ? That doesn't really make sense, does it?

[@atk9989]

@@YawgmothWasRight actually they did start building up to this starting in Kaldheim with Vorinclex stealing the i think it was water/elixar from Esika in the world tree, which is what they used to make realmbreaker.

[@StarkMaximum]

I'm getting tired of "this will send a message". We've been sending messages for years. there is no one on the other side. The line is dead. They do not care.

[@WCPFISH]

@@StarkMaximum dear gawd, someone who gets it ^^^^^^^

[@freedomforall1712]

Good disclamer in the beginning, wouldn't want the Pinkertons knocking on your door.

[@raiserofchickens]

The Saga of the Weatherlight and the Scars or Mirrodin Block. That is how a Phyrexian invasion and take over is handled properly.

[@lookwhereibroughtyou]

Exactly, when they were releasing 3 set x year max and no extra secret lair or commander stuff. Giving us time to enjoy and collect cards without going bankrupted.

[@sclair2854]

Thanks SO MUCH for echoing this sentiment on the March of Machines story. I'm relatively new to magic so when everything came to an extremely abrupt end after all that set up I had to wonder "Is this... Just how MTG does stories?" cause it felt like we'd skipped the entire second act.

[@lorpuz4664]

lately all stories are awesome set ups that end in seconds before we move to the next set up :/

[@markmarkson4455]

Ignore the mtg story it isn't worth getting into and hasn't been since 2016

[@yurisei6732]

It kinda is just how MTG does stories, ever since about 2015/2016 when they stopped doing proper blocks. 2 sets on the same story just isn't enough for most stories, but 3 sets worked well.

[@alanwake5239]

The embarrassing part is this is the second time in recent memory they've dropped the ball like this. Just like War of the Spark, you can open a single pack and see the beginning and end of the big climactic thing they'd been hyping for years.

[@Highstar7331]

Check out stories from the original Theros set/block, all the way through war of the spark. That's the best we're getting.

[@Bunnycraft-li4os]

If there was three sets, phyrexia could've had a better ending than "norn died, phyrexia fell over"

[@Zauzzie]

Everyone knows that when the leader dies all the minions die. look at Game of thrones , it worked out well for their story right.....

[@JoelBurger]

Having one more set to work with wouldn't have suddenly turned poor writing into good writing. It wouldn't have caused them to come up with something better than Elesh Norn suddenly being the focal point of all phyrexian oil, including I guess the oil that was around before she ever existed.

[@8Smoker8]

Yeah writing reached new levels of trash.

[@DirkLasermaster]

I can't believe that it's been 30 years since star trek did the whole borg queen thing and people are still using this hack trope

[@fernandolopez8424]

Somehow Elesh Norn died

[@isabellebettin1652]

Totally agree with you on the story. This story would have been so much better served broken up, as you have argued.

[@oddeye]

I think it's just a test. How do you know how far you can get away with it without actually doing it. I'm not a fan of the micro set or the reduced number of cards at the same price.

[@jacob4920]

@@oddeye Then we all need to make sure that Wizards fails this test, and never tries a stunt like this again! Because if they profit off of this somehow... They're only going to do it more often!

[@michaelolsen9840]

In the immortal words of the wise and powerful Yogurt, "Heaven forbid we all meet again in 'Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money." That is how this set makes me feel.

[@s33ur3lv3lvly]

Yogurt?! I hate yogurt!!

[@ferdithetank7535]

My thoughts are that this is how WotC test the waters for how they could possibly rip customers off more efficiently. If this experiment proves to be a success, we'll see a lot more "micro sets" in 2 years.

[@xChikyx]

2 years? lol if this is a success (which i doubt it since everyone is disappointed on thr nee cards and the prices), we'd see this for every set from now on

[@ferdithetank7535]

@@xChikyx wizards work at least a year in advance, so for any change to their release schedule it would take at least another year.

[@lorpuz4664]

and with doble the price. like with the set commander sets that begin at $20 on zendikar rising and look at them now. or commander legends that was not priced at premium at the beggining that lead us to commander masters on the horizons that would probalby be 15-20 dolars a pack probably.

[@goatsfluff]

I mean, they've already done that with Secret Lairs, no?

[@untrainedear]

Very hard to argue with this. In a less cynical time it would seem an interesting, fair opportunity for offshoot sets, even side story-related ones at an appropriately lowered price. The reality is a lot more likely to be like deciding whether to throw your wallet into a shredder

[@charmandenator5686]

We have blitzed through story so fast that I don't even know what's happened or why the cool villians are dead. Last I checked it, was... Kamigawa.... I miss spending a year on a plane.

[@gamerjunky2476]

So overwhelming that I just stopped buying anything from them

[@davidedwards3206]

I see it this way. Alchemy was designed to "reinvigorate" (IOW sell more to) Arena players before the next set, when the Standard becomes "stale". Aftermath is the IRL attempt at doing an "Alchemy", to sell more to the player base. As I recall, there was an announcement of no Alchemy for MOM because of the timing of Aftermath.

[@moreparmesan5261]

The phyrexian history spans almost the creation of mtg in general. The end of phyrexia in such a sudden manner leads me to think wizards never cared about the lore. They needed a defeat, but an epic one at that. I'm big sad

[@hyoroemongaming569]

They cared in the past

[@williamjosephwebster7860]

Maybe the death of Magic is imminent now. I don’t know how the majority of the player base feels about this, but the Pinkerton situation is absolutely the last straw for me. I am not buying a single new MTG product unless WOTC undergoes a huge change in leadership.

[@hyoroemongaming569]

@@williamjosephwebster7860 irrelevant. Parmesan was talking about lore.

[@williamjosephwebster7860]

@@hyoroemongaming569 I know. I think there is something poetic about Magic killing it’s greatest villain, right before killing itself by associating with one of American history’s greatest villains. I know this situation is the last straw for me. I won’t be buying any new Magic products going forward. I doubt that most players will say the same, but I just can’t justify supporting this company anymore after what they have done.

[@hyoroemongaming569]

@@williamjosephwebster7860 reading the law explains the law. I guess some players like trial and error and bother the 'judge'.

[@discordiandreamer]

Hard agree on the story. They rushed and compacted it so bad, we just... skipped right over the invasion. Yeah it was there, but it was just window dressing to Elesh Norn being defeated throughout more than half the story. It just felt flat.

[@MexicanDre]

Yeah did they even really invade? Didn't they just lose every fight on every plane? What was the point besides introducing a new card type 😕

[@WUBRGer_King]

The story fails the show don't tell rule at every step. Every story other than Elesh Norn getting defeated and Wrenn swapping Phyrexia and Zhalfir (legit clever, IMO) showed some big battle that the heroes win by the skin of their teeth, while telling us about whatever big losses have happened (e.g. Drannith and the Maestros) and telling us how long and how hard they've all fought and telling us how the characters know that it's not over yet. We see a lot of victory, but we're told it's been so hard, so we really just absorb all the victories in the stories even though WotC swears up and down that the consequences are huge! Credit where credit is due, I think the Vraska and Torbran x Rankle stories were fantastic, but even then we see Ral throw a doodad at Vraska and it knocks her out after 2 days or whatever of Ravnica getting invaded. We really needed a set to show us how Phyrexia is dominating the various worlds and then a set to see those worlds win some significant battles while Wrenn and Elspeth win them the war.

[@Tremulantone]

There's a reason there exists a traditional 3 act structure in storytelling. They had some decent ground laid but it seems like this whole thing was conceptualized and planned when Marvel was doing Endgame and they totally went in that direction. Hell, look at the new Shalai and Hallar card and tell me that doesn't look like an Avenger's promo art. Anyway, felt like season 4+ of GOT and they just rushed it to get to new product lines. The nerve to charge full price for a 5 card pack though. Hasbro sucks.

[@benjaminmiddaugh2729]

But if they take the time to let us absorb the story then they aren't flooding the market with cards that they can pretend that everyone needs to own. And it looks too much like doing things that make sense, rather than doing the greediest thing possible.

[@bonaface]

@@MexicanDre omg you're totally right, all the battles are them literally losing.

[@Kayoscape]

"Aftermath" would've been such a cool name for the third set of the three-set "Phyrexia" block, reminiscent of old single-word sets like Apocalypse and Odyssey. Man, I miss blocks.

[@TheGrifcannon22]

This could have been the best time to return blocks even as an occasional thing.

[@joeferreti9442]

Well, last time they did a sort of big aftermath set with "Avacyn Restored" (AVR), it didn't go that well and they had to rewind most story things in it to make the plane of Innistrad interesting again.

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

And it wouldn't have spoiled the ending with that title. What a bunch of wasted potential.

[@Selliis]

Totally look forward to buying this whole set in singles for like ~20 bucks

[@CapnSnackbeard]

The "three acts" structure to stories and the trillogies common in fantasy exist for a reason. "Beginning, middle, and end."

[@Romashka_Sov]

Excuse me, but it's not always the case. There are many good 1/2/4 parts stories, that are connected by a theme. Even MtG is a big set of smaller stories connected by Urza's adventures pre-mending (afaik it was a single story throughout multiple years) and popular planeswalkers post-mending. Also you can divide stories in any amount of parts as long as it looks cohesive, for example, the middle part is always the biggest of three, so you can put a place of relaxation (or a cliffhanger for subplot) and cut it in half. Even more, some stories aren't big enough to consider splitting them in the first place So WotC limiting themselves by ANY parts structure, not only 2 parts was always a bad idea

[@mechkiller31st]

this is exactly why there were "blocks" years ago for MTG. it was a great way of telling the story of that particular arc. but hey Hasbro wants more money and to them "Greed is good"

[@CapnSnackbeard]

@@Romashka_Sov This was a story that was supposed to be epic in scale, and it plainly had a "beginning, a middle, and and end," as they even divided it up that way. But this isn't a classic trillogy division, this is one with oversized book 1 and 2, and then they have cut out the smaller happy ending part, and are selling it at a premium, with no draft potential, no extra effort, less actual product, and a larger packaging/product ratio. I'm pretty sure it's just a FOMO based promotiomal tactic dreamed up by the marketing team, not an artistic choice made by the story team.

[@Romashka_Sov]

@@CapnSnackbeard i didn't mean that Phyrexia arc shouldn't be 3-acts structured, just pointed out that this structure shouldn't be applied to every story, because "trilogies are popular for a reason". For me it looked like you mixed two different concepts in one, sorry if I'm wrong

[@CapnSnackbeard]

@@Romashka_Sov it's all good. I was definitely implying a preference along with my observation, I think there is room for other ways of storytelling, but among the reasons it is popular is it's apparent suitability for telling stories of the variety that Magic does, and I think it fits well. I think some standardization along those lines also used to allow for a more cohesive game, with better formats. But Hasboro has been vocal, and demonstrative that isn't really the main objective of this product anymore, so this kind of design is not surprising.

[@broomguy7]

One of the best new features of Magic: The Gathering: March of the Machine: The Aftermath is the slim chance of having armed goons sent to your home by Hasbro every time you open a pack.

[@koalabro6118]

Imagine being so fucking god damned retarded that you reveal the fact that you basically have a secret police force well known for some very heinous acts, then proceed to use it to unlawfully intimidate and extort some random guy for your cards that release in two weeks.

[@TheStephanbirk]

when armed goons come to your home remove target player from the game

[@joshuacrumley2031]

@@Dimir_Burger Fear, probably. Hasbro is large corp and most content creators don't want to fight that battle.

[@flameofmage1099]

Yeah it was weird reading flavor text that talked about the days leading up to the invasion right next to flavor text that talked about Teferi honoring Wrenn's sacrifice. I haven't read the story yet and that makes it hard to get excited about it.

[@Petryfy]

I mean, I read the main story beats and it's still hard to get excited about the set... hyping up for a battle you already know the outcome of is flavorfully very silly to me. Probably just gonna buy singles for commander and imagine a longer invasion story in my head 😅

[@flameofmage1099]

@@Petryfy Same. Not getting a box for Aftermath

[@keldone3186]

wait... wrenn is dead?

[@flameofmage1099]

@@keldone3186 tbh I don't actually know. It just says they sacrificed more than everyone else. Sorry, probably should've put a spoiler warning but I didn't think it's be an issue since its in flavor text.

[@keldone3186]

@@flameofmage1099 dw i dont care about spoilers. Just means there will be no new wrenn planeswalker... I like my green planeswalkers

[@danacoleman4007]

This is absolutely hilarious. Very entertaining. Thank you WOTC! At least thank you from those of us who quit a while ago.

[@WCPFISH]

thank goodness you didn't actually quit though. You're here commenting on a magic channel- helping WOTC by showing that they still matter enough for you to do so. Believe me they 'thank you' as well!

[@danacoleman4007]

@@WCPFISH I suppose I wasn't clear. By quit, I mean that I quit buying their products a while ago. I will still certainly continue to enjoy what I already own. And I will also continue to enjoy the free entertainment and misery of others who continue to support them. 😁

[@Nemesis653]

​@@WCPFISH Believe it or not theres alot of us that dont buy WOTC products but enjoy the work content creators like Tolarian Community College do and enjoy watching such a scummy company get their comeuppance(even if it's never enough to get them or their fans that keep funding them to change their ways).

[@ernestosalinas1091]

Is true how compressed feels MOM. You have in the same set cards featuring the moment before the invasion (with the symbols appearing), the battles depicting the phyrexian offensive and the plane deffensive at the same time, and the cards of how it ends like render inert.

[@gr8stonedurgon508]

100% agree with your points about the story structure. When Heliod, Radiant Dawn was spoiled, I was super excited to read the story about his compleation and that of other gods. Ajani gets sent to Theros in chapter 1 of MOM, and because his turn was pretty important in DMU, I thought the story would follow him. Then all we got was a handful of paragraphs before Elspeth comes back as an angel to save the day. MOM should have been treated like Inifinity war and Endgame, where the Phyrexians are mostly victorious in MOM, then are defeated in the next set. Cards like Archangel Elspeth and Wrenn and Realmbreaker should have been saved for a set after MOM. Then we would have had room for more compleated gods and a compleated Koma, both of which only got mentioned in flavor text. At least Nicol Bolas got to have victory set in Hour of Devastation before the heroes took him down.

[@cax1175]

I just noticed your box of Homelands. I got a sealed pack of it in Japan last week. My name is Chandler, so it has my favorite commander for obvious reasons!

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

I am a big fan of Joven.

[@cax1175]

@@darkrexkigntstone8773 Moreso the one who shares my name but Joven is cool too.

[@ColorfulHelices]

You know what? You reminded of something very important. I usually avoid speculation content, but didn't know what this was so I clicked. always love your stuff. but the ending hit home for me "Those 50 new cards may be home runs that do nothing but add new avenues and paths for this great game." There was no venom, no sarcasm, no exasperation. Hope. Hope for this product to succeed and make the game better. NO ONE wins when a product fails, and I seem to have forgotten that recently. Product fatigue hitting me a little hard, but this reminded me that I should still HOPE they do well for Wizards and the Players. Thank you.

[@TransformersBoss]

Oh, I thought the “6-card Collector Booster” was just a joke. Nothing is truly a joke in this Clown World…

[@jacob4920]

I'm not paying a single red penny for any packs from this upcoming set. I'll buy singles only. Because standard price for less than half the usual amount of cards is HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!! Send Wizards a message, and don't waste your hard-earned cash on this criminal act!

[@juliandavid6082]

@notyuu stop trolling all over the comment section.

[@catOwnerJB]

The costs of packs is directly related to the RARE count, not the card card count. Just means I'll only buy singles I want, draft and gambling are the only reasons to buy packs.

[@jacob4920]

@@catOwnerJB I buy a full box, only when it looks like the entire set is pretty stout, by means of the spoilers. If not enough cards in a set impress me before the release, I go by individual scrounging. Save a lot of money that way, and also don't have tons of worthless cards piling up in my closet. In this case, I can't imagine too many of the cards will impress me, because it is a small set to begin with.

[@malakimphoros2164]

​@@juliandavid6082 He's right tho, EDH players will need those sweet new chase legendaries designed for EDH

[@zerosum789]

You nailed it with the double feature comparison. Feels to me like they had extra art and poof free microproduct.

[@joshuahodge965]

I applauded you Professor! You came at this product with an open mind and gave every single angle a just and honest try to justify the legitimacy that this product could be needed. The actual reason it exists: less cardboard, less ink, less packaging but same price = higher profit margin. I think the term is shrinkflation. Another attempt to extract the largest amount of profits, other than making a quality, fun, and engaging game. "But they cut out the commons that you just bulk or throw away anyway". The rarity of a card in a TCG is a abstract thing assigned by the creator to try to indicate to the player the quantity of that rarity type printed. In this set the rares are common b/c they come in every single pack and the mythic is now the uncommon b/c you will open fewer than the rares. Spend you money however you want, you earned it, and i hope you have a blast with this if you do. If this is a success by wizards internal data, they we print this idea for as many standard sets as they think we will buy.

[@teferitoots8043]

Received my Kickstarter Deck Box this weekend. Thank you!

[@Gshadewolf14]

I’ve been trying my hand at a few different hobbies over the past few months, and coming back and looking at MTG’s release schedule for products, it looks insane. I can’t fathom a brand new set of cards almost every month, nor can my wallet. It’s unfortunate that I can no longer afford all the cards I want from each new set

[@brockmckelvey7327]

As a Vorthos, I do love the idea of an Epilogue to follow the Event Set. As a player, I think the best use for these is as a bonus pack before/after Drafting March of the Machine itself. As someone with a limited budget, I feel bad that I can't get all the product that I actually want to get.

[@MasterDoctorBenji]

They should have been little promo packs you got at events. We've had stuff like that. Every set having a mini epilogue that is entirely promo and free at events would be sweet! Then we can spend more time in the worlds.

[@malakimphoros2164]

​@@MasterDoctorBenji With mechanically unique cards? That woyld be hell. Or full proxy galore.

[@MasterDoctorBenji]

@@malakimphoros2164 I don't think so, but also sure proxy. You could put some of those cards in the collector boosters, like we see with commander cards. You hand them out for event completions, that would be hundreds of these boosters just on prerelease weekend for most stores. At least the stores I have played at. Maybe that's still not enough to get the 50 cards out there, but maybe cut it done to 30. Or some other sweet spot

[@malakimphoros2164]

@@MasterDoctorBenji That WILL be Nexus of Fate and Walking Dead SL all over again. Mechanically unique promo cards, especially randomised, are a very bad idea in a competitive game.

[@MasterDoctorBenji]

@@malakimphoros2164 I don't think it's any worse than selling a five card pack for five dollars.

[@chrisbenson6753]

I remember when my LGS started selling homemade packs of 5 bulk opened product with a guaranteed rare for 1$ each. There was almost always more than a dollar of value but it felt right with the price of a normal booster.

[@SnowElf_96]

I didn't know Elesh Norn was even gonna die until I saw a card a the prerelease with Karn holding her severed head. I was like wait wtf?

[@jlllorada8447]

Exactly

[@IHeart16Bit]

What a waste of time bringing her back was lmao

[@Earthboundmike]

Wait. Are you for serial? REALLY? HOW?

[@AnthonyWhitford]

I mean that’s on you. She dies in the story that came out weeks before the prerelease.

[@Petryfy]

They certainly did something "unique" with this set; you have a chance to see the whole story just by cracking a single pack. The invasion might be starting on one card, but it's already over on the next one! 😁

[@TheChaosTheory]

The upcoming timeline has me completely CHECKED OUT. Time to save some money and just keep buying singles! I havent opened a pack in 6 or so months because I cant even find them on shelves. lmao.

[@mols556]

I don't believe this product deserves the amazing optimism and positivity you put forward in this video, prof. That being said, that's why you're awesome.

[@lololllololololol]

I've only been playing Magic for about six months now and the first set I bought was Dominaria United. There's so many new products coming out that I haven't even bothered trying to get caught up with them. At this point I've just resorted to buying singles of the cards I think are cool and planning what deck(singular) I might put together to play in paper when I get the chance.

[@anthonypillarella]

You've learned the most important lesson very quickly. Well done.

[@ExtraVictory]

The next lesson to learn is abandoning this comically badly run game for the far superior shores of YGO. As an international player (American born and raised abroad in Japan) I promise we won't sell you fake cards for 1000$

[@anthonypillarella]

@@ExtraVictory HAHAHAHAHAHA dear god, no.

[@anthonypillarella]

@@ExtraVictory I've played both, it's not a close contest for my preference. I'll play Magic with printer paper slipped into a card sleeve before playing YuGiOh again.

[@ExtraVictory]

@@anthonypillarella It's good that magic works for you, of course YGO is on the list of most profitable Intellectual Properties in History wheras MTG is nowhere close, so in terms of success one is far beyond the other but hey

[@froschkenig]

I would love to see you narrate a comic story or an older MtG story line again.

[@echowolf4230]

Sad thing is (with some leaks in mind) that the set does one thing I wanted for quite some time: planeswalker-characters as legendary creatures. The story always heavily focused on characters that are planeswalkers (wether or not that is good is a different question), but since they can be attacked and usually dont have enough loyalty counters to survive for long it meant that some of the most important story characters were the most fragile card type.

[@ethansokol307]

I had the same thought verbatim about this set. This needed 3 sets! Could you imagine if Infinity War and Endgame were all in one film? This is that result. Rushed story lines, crowded card play that didn't fully realize its intentions, and the letdown kills butchered this set. I like it, but even war of the spark had bigger buildup and explosive payoffs, and we all know how that went! This was supposed to be a ginormous event that changes magic as a whole and it felt like another Tuesday! Seriously, a new card type, the enemy invading every aspect of the multiverse and characters we cherished now donning an evil poisoned personality and we get shafted with mediocre plots. My boi vorinclex gets beheaded by a rando like they were casually buttering toast and walks off like they were going to the mall! All in all, this was a lackluster presentation of the potential mtg story we could've and should've received.

[@uandubh5087]

Lackluster presentation is being very generous imo. Vorinclex's end is a perfect example of how trivial they made he whole invasion seem in the end. Not to mention the healing of the completed planeswalkers, nullifying all the stakes that were built up in the set before.

[@ethansokol307]

@@uandubh5087 you said it bruddha!

[@edron79]

I enjoyed the quick cut to the Elspeth scream before returning to business. 😀

[@thisgraincharacter6400]

This product illustrates the entire reason I stopped playing Magic. This game was my childhood, but now I literally cannot recognise it. Too many products and far too little time to actually enjoy a new set of cards before another flashy bauble is shoved into your figurative face. That and the accelerating cost, ridiculous collectibles and the entire system of Universes Beyond meant that I spent more time keeping up with MTG than actually playing it. Even things like the Lord of the Ring's set or even the Doctor Who crossover have so many products that I can't enjoy the actual set, cards, art or any part of the game because I'm too busy trying to figure out what the five new commander decks do, and whether I can get this style of card in a draft, set or collector's booster. I feel that the focus of Magic is now on selling product instead of making it. This business model might make more money in the short term, but long-term Hasbro must realise that killing off the people who actually play the game won't lead to a bright future. I just hope at some point they get their act together, (maybe if they're bought by another company who actually cares about the way the game works) and that I can get back to enjoying MTG again.

[@paulallison3974]

I can't think of a set I was less excited about, at least homelands gave more insight into the sengirs. I think I'm likely to manage to actually listen to you prof and just buy singles this time around, or perhaps even just trade for 'em.

[@jamesstewart7784]

They need to bring back three bloc sets, I feel we never have enough time to spend on a set, I would love three set New Cappena and Neo Kamigawa, just feels jarring we get one set before we move on.

[@InsanoRider777]

Not to mention some actually awesome keywords and mechanics don't get to shine. Imagine having more than three dungeons to venture into, or Foretell having some really cool effects. Blocks allowed for the dev teams to push set-themed card effects like Landfall and Infect. However, this "one-and-done" take on sets is hindering genuinely good concepts from becoming archetypes to build a deck around.

[@lourencolimadacunha5493]

@@InsanoRider777 Agreed. Dungeons...they looked so interesting, but then they were over so fast, even with the commander sets they couldn't expand it... And they even said "now with a commander release with each set we can explore more the set mechanics..." oh well, I guess not...

[@lourencolimadacunha5493]

And guess what, even with just one set, they already changed/killed/distorted/""""compleated""" a few of the iconic/legendary pieces of sets like Capenna, Eldraine, Khaldeim, Ikoria

[@nexus3d5]

Hey Prof, I just reveived my kickstarter box... It is everything I could've hoped for and more. I literally was shaking opening it. Once again, thanks for everything.

[@CHoustonify]

The reason they can't make the collector boosters all foils is because they need a splint in there.

[@mtgbrewery7239]

More like 3 when you count the token and arena promos lol

[@koalabro6118]

What does "splint" mean in this situation? I've never heard it used in this way.

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

​@@koalabro6118 As in the cards get so warped they need a splint to keep them straight before the packaging is opened. 😂

[@lingroire2556]

PRINGLES!

[@thekillers1stfan]

Honestly when I saw the decrease in the amount of cards per pack in the Collectors boosters I assumed it was because they wanted to Make like a $10-$15 collector booster to encourage more people to dip their toes into it. I didn't realize it was going to cost the exact same lmao

[@honorableintent]

Personally, I'm mostly upset that they keep reprinting Phyrexian Rebirth and ignoring the flavor text on it when writing the story for March of the Machine. It got reprinted like three times going into MOM! How can you not know that as long as one drop of the oil exists, the joyous work continues?

[@StarkMaximum]

I mean, come on, you don't see "as long as one drop of oil exists Phyrexians can't lose" as high school era OC roleplay fanwank? It's such terrible writing to be like "oh yeah my super powerful villain is so strong and impossible to defeat and even if you do defeat them they just come back because they regenerate infinitely and cannot be stopped hur hur" Then again I don't expect Phyrexia fans to have above an eighth grade reading level.

[@jongaskell4288]

​@@StarkMaximum is the Borg Queen ending that also resurrects more than half of the people that died so much superior though? Why are acting so high and mighty about a story about cardboard?

[@honorableintent]

@@StarkMaximum What I'm saying is that this is a direct contradiction of the lore. Back in the day, I was a Mirrodin Pure supporter! I love Mirrodin, and wish we had gotten it back and kicked the Phyrexians out. One drop of oil in Karn's core was enough to corrupt all of Mirrodin into New Phyrexia. Which was not itself the origin of the glistening oil, so the "we shoved New Phyrexia into the void so all the bad guys turned off! Every single one!" solution just is a non-starter. It violates so much of the established canon. But I shouldn't expect better from Wizards, whose "lore recaps" to catch people up on the Brother's War was laughably inaccurate in several places. They created an enemy that could not be defeated (which yes, was poor writing on their part!), but then made them defeated "because I said so". And "because I said so" is not a good enough reason for me. Also, I resent being called a Phyrexian fan. I like them mechanically in the card game, and I love to hate them, but I don't love them.

[@ApoEdvarg]

Keeping in mind how many sets were needed to tell all the stages of the war between Urza and Phyrexia, and the invasion of Dominaria, it's really silly to see everything done in 2 sets (3 if you want to count Dominaria United).

[@Hundo_Mo]

Like many Magic products I am excited about what this COULD have been. I used to love seeing the story told with the cards in the set. I’d love if we had these micro products for epilogues of stories that are told well. Imagine something like this with War of the Spark or the Eldrazi Invasion? Rather than a hard stop in the product and moving to a new plane suddenly. Prof nailed it. We needed 3 sets to tell this story. The Rise of the Phyrexians. The Battle with the Phyrexians. The Comeback of the Multiverse and Subsequent defeat of the Phyrexians. And seeing the impact this had on characters, a set like this to put a bow on it all would be nice.

[@Vplayer_]

The start of the invasion in the cards looks prety cool, with the phyrexian lord been unique and powerful but the resolution is just awful, killing then like some phyrexian mite 1/1

[@xthexpunisherx]

Hope the Corpos don't send their thugs after you for this video Prof

[@williamnicol8236]

I just realised I "what have they done now"'ed in a tone like a father getting another message from their childs high school. My faith in WOTC has fallen to subterrainean levels, it's only the commuity and the three remaining members of my group that stop me from dropping it.

[@Petryfy]

Thank you for bringing a voice to my own thoughts, Prof. At first I was really hyped for March of the Machine, then I fell off hard after all the story beats have been revealed. How can I still be hyped about the thought of my favorite characters teaming up to fight in a seemingly unwinnable battle when I already know the outcome? It's such a shame, they've been pacing the story out through a lot of sets only to completely rush it in the end... kinda feels like Game of Thrones, now that I think about it 😅

[@cax1175]

Because 2023 WOTC has to try to outdo 2022 WOTC in terms of Greed.

[@Vking-xb7rc]

Just got into the game like today this channel really helpful (plz never stop what you're doing)

[@ktmeunier]

The fact that the price didn't go down with the amount of card makes this set a pass for me

[@DreadedEnding]

Im glad I have magic KZbinrs to watch- I had preordered some MoM aftermath to guarantee a good price point, but the second I found out about the details of the set I cancelled the preorders.

[@utkphilobio]

I think it speaks volumes that WOTC's response to the decreasing popularity of Standard is to make a fifth Standard set. Their problem is that there aren't enough sales, so their solution is to make more products. They don't care that no one wants to play Standard, they're just worried that they aren't selling enough Standard product.

[@gabrielaganon3160]

I just returned to MTG and the number of new sets is overwhelming to me ngl. They gotta step on the brakes at some point, but I don't think thats happening anytime soon.

[@underscore_5450]

Even as an established player it's hard to keep up. By the time a set finally comes out it's already old news because spoilers are coming out for the next set. I was already bored of March of the Machine before the set even released.

[@joeferreti9442]

Better not to return to MTG. It's a mess with WotC's greedy release cycle!

[@erikwilliams1562]

I came back for Innistrad, stayed for Kamigawa and now deeply regret my decision

[@phantomkrieger2744]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Has had 5 and 7 card “premier” packs for years. Most of the time these pander to the collectors and long time fans introducing cards that had previously been anime exclusive or giving support to older/ fan-service (blue-eyes, dark magician, red-eyes etc.) archetypes. These packs also often contain reprints of hard to come by competitive cards such as Barrone de Fleur in the latest 7 card booster pack set Maze of Memories.

[@HAZPAza]

I thoroughly enjoy your content :)

[@Shamax0]

Hit the nail on the head prof, thanks for a great video, and waiting with baited breath to see how this shakes out for wotc, and what new abomination of a product they'll think of next

[@crazypistachios]

These packs ought to be like $1 for 5 cards

[@lorpuz4664]

Wotc: "you mean $10 right?" this set is literally DLC on phisical form still im surprised its just 4 bucks and i still found them overpriced

[@xChikyx]

@@lorpuz4664 omg so true

[@gutterspeak]

That doesn't even add up to the current pricing scheme of boosters now. Be smarter.

[@cross1115]

​@@gutterspeaktelling people to be smarter while being a dumbass 😅

[@crazypistachios]

@@gutterspeak be smarter 🤓

[@emilands3635]

I just went to a small town LGS today and they still have double feature boosters sitting on the counter!

[@futureshocked]

Yup from every perspective this should have been the 3rd set. I'm excited for the new Narset though.

[@tannerastle8988]

Amen. I couldnt agree more we needed 3 sets for this story.

[@User5770]

March of the Machine really should have been part of a block. Start with All Will Be One, have March of the Machine focus on the invasion in its entirety, and then have a third set that dealt with the confrontation and counter-attack on New Phyrexia. Just make sure to allocate more than five stories per set for each of them.

[@FR0STBL0D]

... no. That would have been silly, too. Considering the story arc started with a least Kaldheim. The story didn't demand the structure of a 3-act-play. It demanded a grander sheme. With DMU being the primary starting point ... at least a five-act-play could have served the story much better ... And instead of MoM being climax and resolve ... a retardation should have followed MoM ... maybe even moving the focus from the invasion to a place the Phyrexians hadn't reached yet.

[@lordofsmeg101]

Thank you so much for the in depth rundown you have saved me money 5 cards is not good enough 12 cards was a bad but 5 it’s like they just took the rest of the packs n made a new set out of it

[@ohnosmoarlulcatz]

This sounds like the cards rejected from their main boosters and just shoved into an extra booster pack to make money off of the art they paid for.

[@SandsBuisle]

they have the sets (mostly) planned out before they send in their art requests. They're not going to cut cards after sending out art briefs

[@prinnynaito]

I really like your preliminary comments on the story of MOM, I hope you eventually make a video talking about it

[@krimhorn]

As awesome as the idea behind Brother's War was (and some of the designs were killer, Prototype needs to be used often) it was definitely an aside in the entire Phyrexian story arc. It was like Teferi had a full set for a flashback where he remembered hearing about The Brother's War when he was a student.

[@dddgaming885]

I have no clue why they even tied BW to the current ongoing story. Just felt like a cheap way to advertise the current arc in what's supposed to be a fleshed out modern telling of Urza vs Mishra.

[@thelunchlady8276]

Glad I'm not the only one to think that. Teferi Flashback.

[@RafaelAAMerlo]

As someone who has the true Brother's War (the one of old) as his favourite story in MTG and read all of the new ones... Man, it's jarring. Of 5 chapters, 2 are in a time outside the War itself, and all others mostly just follow random people just suffering. Gix, Titania and Tocasia go unmentioned, Teferi's conversation with Urza is a mess... I'm really disappointed with how the Narrative is being lead these days 😢

[@ericmoses9066]

Well I have thought about this quite a bit. On the surface a five card booster seems like an affront but then when I consider it is usually the chase mythic, rare, and uncommons that prop up the desire and long term value of a product then you would think that this will be a great value. But then we also have to think about scarcity. Usually the scarcity even of a new card drives price saying that this one mythic which only shows up in an average quantity is holding up the box value may not exist here because of the probability that each card will have a plethora of printings. I suppose on the upside any great cards that do see print will be available at a reasonable price giving accessibility to players in the short term and perhaps value to the secondary market once the print run ends.

[@karndrogo]

Ngl they really would benefit from showing down and fleshing their things out. I only got into magic last year and I’ve been intrigued by Karn’s story and the other characters, but there’s so many of them. Financially I can’t keep up with the packs (ik ik, buy singles but I enjoy opening packs) and story wise I don’t get time to go back and see what they’ve already made.

[@CrosswaIk]

Everyone can keep complaining but you're all gonna keep supporting this company. Don't forget in Q4 is more MTG30 stuff since this is the actual 30th anniversary (last year was the 29th). Plus the first MTG30 video, they said they'll "celebrate as long as they want".

[@nbblerxc]

You can support a company/IP but choose to not support specific products or aspects.

[@rajamicitrenti1374]

I feel like they need to standardize what is in each monthly release if they are going to do this. Like the set in the first month of each quarter is a Standard set, the set in the last month of each set is a Universes Beyond set, and the set in the middle month of each quarter is aimed at a specific format (Commander/Modern/Pioneer).

[@davidruff4826]

I'm in agreement. They should have made another set, especially how many characters they miss showing cards for (Koma)

[@lucasthomas9184]

Dev at Sbmtg called it that they would eventually put out a small standard legal set in summer. He guessed it was to spice up standard before the next rotation.

[@matteorebeschi6824]

Except it's not really a "summer set"... it's coming out in May, which means, for the entirety of summer, Standard is going to feel as stale and miserable as it did in the last 2 or 3 summers. It would have different if Aftermath it had came out say in July, then it could really have had a chance of refreshing Standard for the summer.

[@lamiaprincess6371]

I definitely agree on the story structure part, there's good ideas in the story but the pace needed to sum up the story in a bunch of short stories in one set really pushed it to its limits. But also, I think these small sets can in fact be successful. But the lesson from other card games here is that the design space for the set has to be extremely tight. Like the Deck Build packs in Yugioh, such as Secret Forces or Dark Saviors, are similar size, especially in the OCG. 60 card sets with 5 card packs (more recent ones at 7 card packs). But what made them work, and what keeps them popular, is that they're narrowly focused. They're only focused on printing cards for three different decks, most of which are new, and some relevant/good reprints. The question becomes whether or not Magic can fulfill the kind of focused set design needed to make a set work and I'm not sure I'm super convinced. If I had to put money on it, I don't suspect it'll work in the end.

[@carloserausquinhoyos3298]

Lore and Story sold separately

[@qbertq1]

Fallen Empires only had eight cards per pack, and we saw what a huge retail success that set was.

[@melmacianmage]

Aftermath is the DLC expansion to MOM

[@Phe0nix1986]

Right on Prof. Btw i very much enjoyed the music!!!

[@astrid_257]

Tbh I feel like we get a squished set because I don’t think WOTC believed we could have held an attention span to have three sets about one thing anymore. Not like we used to have 3 set blocks or anything xD

[@latinojackson9694]

Gotta like the disclaimer at the beginning, don't want the Pinkertons sent after you to intimidate you. Very 1984...

[@Stinkoman87]

This doesn't change how I will interact with the set. I still plan on buying singles. I have a feeling there will be less demand for this than usual sets, just because there's less cards in it to attract people.

[@erikwilliams1562]

And just like Double Feature (🤢) that means less product, which WoTC will then think more demand, causing prices of singles in this deck to be worth way more than they are That being said it will sell better, cuz DF was ugly as hell

[@Starman_Dx]

It's nice the leaks shows the perfect card for this. Tolarian Contempt

[@ComDenox]

Nice to hear that I'm not the only one underwhelmed by the fact that the cataclysmic invasion of the Phyrexians, requiring not only multiple planeswalkers, but also many regular heroes of different worlds to fight off, was just stopped by an angel coming in and swinging a sword at Elesh Norn.

[@_mrcrypt]

Lore-focused set with no book in the bundle 🤷‍♂️ Thanks as always for the info, Prof! Hava great one 👍

[@drmajalis1583]

After what happened to the guy who leaked the set I legitimately want wotc to go out of business

[@josefinacabrera589]

What happened to the leaker?

[@nucleartophat8654]

@@josefinacabrera589 apparently had pinkertons sent to his house to confiscate the cards and threaten jail time

[@jamesgordon1406]

@@josefinacabrera589 Supposedly they sent actual Pinkerton agents to retrieve the cards and had the leaker remove the video. It's some real New Capenna type buffoonery.

[@none-vr6vr]

​@josefinacabrera589 got threatened by a hired third party investigator, was pretty scary

[@drmajalis1583]

@@josefinacabrera589 wotc sent the fucking pinkertons after him

[@CompleatedMagic]

Dominaria United and Kamigawa… that was our intro sets to the invasion.

[@SingerOfW]

It's a pretty common notion among the Vorthos community that the invasion story only lasted for two sets, so I feel weird for thinking it at the very least started in Dominaria United, since its story was literally about the Phyrexians invading Dominaria. If this was indeed the way Wizards intended the story to be perceived, I wonder what exactly went wrong here. Is it the Brothers' War feeling like a prequel set, sticking out of the linear structure of this "block" even though it does include modern characters dealing with the modern Phyrexian threat? Or is it just because March of the Machine is so big, a single set just feels too small for it?

[@tysonkrunek4132]

Scary you have to put that disclaimer at the beginning to avoid Pinkerton visits

[@retro.7673]

The poor leaker who leaked the whole set had his wife threatened and home entered by people hired by wotc…

[@crazypistachios]

Wotc threatened someones wife?

[@xChikyx]

yeah, I hope he sues wizards

[@insainraven9875]

Come again? What the *TEZZERET*

[@ddynamite3835]

@@crazypistachios yeah, didn't you hear that they hired the pinkerton detective agency to intimate the cards off him

[@rjknapp7459]

Wizards hired a third party to investigate the leak. They arrived at the leaker's home, referring to the products as "stolen" (potentially true, but the leaker bought them legitimately), asked for them back, and offered to send him other products as compensation. Legal action was mentioned by the third party, but when talking on the phone with someone at WotC, the WotC rep said they didn't think that the leaker himself stole anything. Most likely the third party (the leaker called them "pinkertons") is a brutal agency that WotC hired bc they're good at tracking leaked product.

[@markmason2216]

Professor, the reason some of the cards are non-foils is so there are copies that are non-foil which might help them if any card is ever competitive 4-ofs in decks.

[@f.g.5967]

I hope you are safe and WotC did not send any hitman to murder you for talking about the Aftermath

[@PatrickTMcWilliams]

Can’t wait! For Lorcana to come out in August

[@chobo1665]

Same. Starting to want to spend my money else where

[@stephenbradford8524]

I wonder if the non-foils will wind up being worth more…

[@hamsandwich6685]

They'll be the only tournament legal cards from among all those taco shells that curl.

[@zachcarney3910]

I'm done buying Magic the Gathering. Haven't bought since Brothers war/Dominaria remastered. Burn out ya know? But I certainly will keep watching the professors video's! I guess at this point I get laughs out of it all.

[@chrisgallo2236]

Remember when they did blocks and told a whole story over three sets or so?…

[@HCYguy]

Prof, are you going to be at magiccon minneapolis? Would love to see you there!

[@nosrin1988]

This Phyrexian Story has been so massively underwhelming and horribly written I can't express it enough. Which is sad with how grand of a scale it's supposed to be.

[@AzureOctive]

it's clearly supposed to be something on the level of war of the spark if not surpassing it but... well here we are, "money please"

[@FR0STBL0D]

Absolutlely. Especially when considering ... that the story started at least with Kaldheim. Wizards really shouldn't have resolved the story so fast. March of the Machine (as the Set concerned with Phyrexia conquering the Multiverse) ... and then switch to somewhere, where the Phrexians didn't reach. Yet. A forgotten plane. Maybe with a disoriented Elspeth arriving. I mean ... this is - storywise - the 5th Phyrexian themed set in a row. From a dramatic standpoint ... after the climax (conquering) a retardation should follow ... and then resolve. And resolve could have been in autumn. A year past DMU.

[@isaacthek]

Yeah. Aftermath is where I check out.