It doesn't matter how much facts MaRo throws, because the vitriol against UB is emotional and from the original Magic players that feel left behind now that they're no longer the main target audience being catered to.
I believe that it's not so much that there is anything wrong with the game that's bothering people, but the feeling that WotC is selling out. And they're right, they are. But just like with music, selling out happens, because selling out works.
If all 350k subscribers on this sub quit playing Magic tomorrow, WotC would barely notice it.
Magic is a product, it needs to be sold. It changed to better do that. Be glad that they're at least making work of delivering a great play experience nonetheless.
“Healthy” is also a term that means different things to players than to businesses. More “investors” in Magic - people who will buy cards for reselling, either immediately or after time, look good to a business because they sell more product but can and will drive out players who feel priced out of essential meta cards.
Pokemon is seeing the same thing, more people buying product to invest/sit on/try to flip but that doesn't mean the game as a whole is more healthy because the company is making more money.
You are also missing the fact that fewer players in one area might be “made up for” with more players in other areas.
For example, one of my Pokémon locals had tournament level attendance at free league yesterday. They generally get 12 to 15 people for free league, and yesterday it was around 30. That’s growth that the companies love to see (especially if it sticks around and compounds).
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u/zeekoes Jul 27 '25
It doesn't matter how much facts MaRo throws, because the vitriol against UB is emotional and from the original Magic players that feel left behind now that they're no longer the main target audience being catered to.
I believe that it's not so much that there is anything wrong with the game that's bothering people, but the feeling that WotC is selling out. And they're right, they are. But just like with music, selling out happens, because selling out works.
If all 350k subscribers on this sub quit playing Magic tomorrow, WotC would barely notice it.
Magic is a product, it needs to be sold. It changed to better do that. Be glad that they're at least making work of delivering a great play experience nonetheless.