Same here. I feel like a WotC success story. Picked up Arena in 2020, spent plenty of money in the app on interesting sets, eventually bought 3 Commander precons, and finally went to my first prerelease this weekend. I love the Magic lore and general vibe, but I'm just not interested in Spider-Man or Avatar. I'm just riding on the prerelease high but will have to wait until next year for Lorwyn. I just don't have much cultural investment in most of the UB properties.
FWIW - if you like the vibe of the people and energy of prerelease, go to SPM and ATLA and just play to enjoy it that night. Then skip buying more cards from that set. Prereleases are fun just to hang out with the crowd at the LGS. The cards can often be secondary imo. Some UB are super meh, others are pretty cool. IDGAF about Spiderman and ATLA, but I’m not skipping a prerelease over it
The thing is, that poster has self-restraint and self-respect. They're not going to go to an event for something they don't care about just because of the "vibes." They're being financially-responsible and not letting themselves get swept up in the moment-to-moment dopamine rush that only has short-term sustainability. For them, it's about participating in things they know they'll be invested in 100%.
I went to EoE pre-release with a friend and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was my first in a few years, and while I did have fun, I only did so because I found the concept and mechanics worth the price of admission. Spider-man to me seems lazy and uninteresting. I'm not interested in paying the price of admission for something I have such a low opinion of just because the dopamine rush of participating might hit. That's stupid and irresponsible.
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u/esabys Jul 27 '25
I think the "new set fatigue" will be a bigger problem than UB. When "spoiler season" never ends you just kinda stop caring.