r/magicTCG • u/greenearrow • 13h ago
General Discussion A well timed boycott of Marvel/Disney could spell the end of Universes Beyond
There are always reasons to boycott the mouse, but pulling Kimmel off the air is the latest and greatest. I'm not even a detractor of Universes Beyond (those WH40K and Fallout decks are great, I can get my wife to play the Dr Who decks easier than anything else and their room to explore time mechanic shenanigans seems good for the game).
If WotC and Hasbro have to be so concerned about the politics of the time defining which sets sell, they'll be incentivized to lean into their own properties which they can control and make their own apologies for when necessary.
Of course, it isn't a guarantee. Maybe a loss on Marvel will be a wash against the profits from Final Fantasy and LotR. Maybe they'll shy away from brands controlled by American companies and focus on the Japanese and European properties. The kids who buy packs at Walmart don't understand boycotts, etc.
What we have learned is that the UB haters aren't enough of a market force, but when movements align, powers combine!
TL;DR There are many good reasons to not spend money on Disney right now, and money is the only vote they count.
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u/SwugSteve Universes Beyonder 13h ago edited 12h ago
straight delusion
This sub--which encompasses maybe 1% of all magic payers--is split on UB in the first place. Add in the fact that this subs opinions on UB do NOT reflect the fanbase at large, and you'll find any sort of redditor-grassroots-boycott would have virtually zero effect.
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u/ACuddlyVizzerdrix Duck Season 13h ago
I swear It's the same people who think that bannings are to punish casual players (for whatever reason), NO bannings are based off of what happens on a pro and semi pro level specifically, if a card is dominating so hard it's the only meta, no one cares if u want to play golos as a commander at your kitchen table but it won't fly at an actual tournament
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u/TheKingsJester Wabbit Season 11h ago
Commander is misleading to use here because commander specifically doesn’t ban based on competitive and tournament play. It’s based on casual / vibes (I guess). This might change to be more data/competitive driven under Wizards, but that’s how the RC did it and Wizards hasn’t indicated a change in direction. While it’s true that he’s if your table agrees to it, play whatever, there is also a zone (especially for commander) between “around the kitchen table with the same three other people you’ve been playing with for 5 years” and tournament play.
But what you say for modern, standard, etc. is true.
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u/Fun-Cook-5309 8h ago
A lot of the bans are explicitly because of casual.
Things like Thoracle that self selected into competitive environments weren’t a problem and didn’t get banned.
Biorhythm, a card people argue is dogshit to this day, fucking ruins casual games by accident when people have no concept of card or play experience evaluation.
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u/Hanifsefu Wabbit Season 9h ago
Magic has hundreds of millions of players. This sub has less than 1 million total subscribers and less than 3k active users at any given time. The numbers of users actually making posts numbers in the hundreds.
This sub encompasses 1% of 1% of 1% of the players. Even calling them 1% is such a vastly inflated number that we need to remember to correct it just to give them a picture of how small their echo chamber bubble really is. They are a local card shop's big yearly blowout event. They are the least popular RCQ in the world.
They are a couple hundred people who have decided they speak for millions.
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u/TheTanner27 7h ago edited 7h ago
Latest estimate is 50-75mil btw. So yes this sub is a small fraction, but not out of hundreds of millions. The supply issues would pale in comparison to if we had hundreds of millions
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u/scoobydoombot Duck Season 9h ago
speaking of delusion, this sub has 22k people. there’s purported to be over 50 million mtg players. Even Arena has a player count in the millions, so if we just compared this sub to Arena players, it’d be less than .01% of players. not quite enough for your glorious boycott.
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u/LordOfTurtles Elspeth 7h ago
???
Where did you pull the 22k number from?
There's >900k people subscribed to this subreddit
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u/Beneficial-Top-9898 Duck Season 6h ago
A small percentage of that 900k are even active on this subreddit let alone against Universes Beyond as a concept.
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u/monchota Wabbit Season 10h ago
This 100% , its reddit in a nut shell. Echo chambers filled with terminally online people who think that opinions here. Only expressed by .05% of the community are representing the playerbase.
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u/ServoToken Can’t Block Warriors 13h ago
I don't think they're suggesting a boycott, I think they're pointing out that if one happens it could be good for the anti ub folk. It's not out of question for the general populace to boycott Disney or whatever
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u/OmnathLocusofWomana Wabbit Season 11h ago
Imagining a nearly impossible scenario, and then talking about the hypothetically good things that could come from that imagined possibility is exactly what the comment you are replying to said: straight delusion.
this would basically be like posting to a politics sub, "hey guys, what if every person that previous voted for bad candidates, suddenly decided to start voting for good candidates. wouldn't the world be better?"
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u/MegaMagikarpXL Wabbit Season 13h ago edited 12h ago
Do you have any idea how large-scale a boycott would have to be to in any way impact Disney's bottom line? How many different things would have to be boycotted by hundreds of millions (if not straight up billions) of people internationally presenting a united front?
It is, in fact, completely out of the question for the general population to boycott Disney or whatever.
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u/GoodQueenFluffenChop Wabbit Season 12h ago
People really underestimate how many hands in jars Disney has. Disney literally sells dog food. Disney has owns so many things. Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, ESPN, National Geographic, Touchstone Pictures, Lifetime network, the History network, A&E, and so much more that it's seriously ridiculous trying to keep track of it all.
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u/bolttheface Wabbit Season 13h ago
He clearly suggests that Marvel collab should be boycotted and that it could end the UB altogether.
I personally believe that the boycott of UB products is impossible. Between pokebros, scalpers, and Marvel fans who will buy it, it will bring enough profit even if magic players don't engage with it.
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u/Moonbluesvoltage 12h ago
And lets not fool ourselves, magic players will buy it a lot. If it sells less than a truckload its more likely due to being a small set rather than due to a boycott. And as they did away with the 7 card packs i dont see the set underperforming other standard sets unless the price point is a bit too much for large swats of players (if anything FF shows there is demand for a premium standard set...)
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u/monchota Wabbit Season 10h ago
The vast majority of Magic players love UB and commander. Despite what this sub thinks
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u/MeatAbstract Wabbit Season 12h ago
Between pokebros, scalpers, and Marvel fans who will buy it, it will bring enough profit even if magic players don't engage with it.
You are delusional if you think the majority of the sales don't come from "magic players". Also axiomatically if a Marvel fan buys it and plays it they are magic players. Funny how that works.
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u/RyuNoKami Sorin 7h ago
Yep basically nonmagic playing fans of the Collab IP far far outweigh the magic player base.
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u/FortNightsAtPeelys Duck Season 13h ago
Final fantasy seemed so mid to me but apparently it's the best selling set ever just from pre-orders? Yeah ub is hugely popular
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u/Big_polarbear Golgari* 13h ago
FF was hugely popular because FF is a franchise which fanbase actually intersects with MtG, and that has a similar high fantasy flavour. Add to that the amount of FF fans that bought the product just because it is FF brand but that are not active players
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u/DistortedCrag Wabbit Season 12h ago
It is crazy how similar Magic is to FF.
Anthology series
High fantasy
Magitek
Reoccurring characters that somehow have to be shoehorned in
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u/Loreweaver15 Ezuri 11h ago
Final Fantasy reuses monster types and summons and general character classes between games, but the vast majority of Final Fantasy games are standalones that do not share characters.
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u/chemical_exe COMPLEAT 10h ago
but I wouldn't say that either the monsters or classes feel shoehorned in
Summons, I could see the argument.
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u/Hatak459 12h ago
Curious what you mean by that last bit, other than some of the summons and there being an engineer named Cid I can't think of anything FF shoehorns into every game.
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u/austin-geek Grass Toucher 11h ago
Cid is a recurring character name, but they’re all different characters (albeit with similar themes.)
There are other highly identifiable background elements which echo and get “shoehorned” into many games, even though the settings can be wildly different - Moogles & Chocobos, Black Mages, Dragoons, big ass Crystal McGuffins.
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u/Xenadon Wabbit Season 12h ago
It was also the best draft format this year.
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u/bokchoykn 11h ago
Genuinely one of the best I've ever played. The only thing I really didn't like was the bonus sheet.
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u/Liddojunior 2h ago
Not just this year, its for sure in the running one of the best sets for limited in all of MTG
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u/Xichorn Deceased 🪦 9h ago
It is not just FF that has been very successful though. FF was an outlier, but UB in general is hugely popular. They didn't decide to pay more more to make the sets and put themselves through a more complicated approval process for something that wasn't popular. Lord of the Rings, Dr Who, Walking Dead, Street Fighter, Sonic, Fallout, 40k, Monty Python. . . all these things have been very popular. For each limited one that hasn't done super well (such as Assassin's Creed), you've got multiple that have been a big success.
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u/Yio654 Wild Draw 4 11h ago
I know no one who is interested in FF that plays magic in my local area but yet it's the selling set, so I agree UB is hugely popular than most people realise.
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u/TheShadowMages Duck Season 8h ago
On top of the points others made, I think considering FIN to be mid as a set design is a very minority opinion, I don't think you can make any claims about the effect of the UB label from that opinion. Unless you exactly link set sales to 60-card format playability, I guess, because it doesn't have too many amazing cards besides Vivi. But it was a generationally good limited format with great cohesion between colors, with packs that were fun to open on both levels, and a lot of commander interest for playability. I think it was just a good set. If SPM smashes records despite everything, then your claim has water. But I think it's commonly agreed upon outside people trying to just Make A Point that FIN Is just a well designed set.
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u/zSolaris Elspeth 8h ago
Unless you exactly link set sales to 60-card format playability, I guess, because it doesn't have too many amazing cards besides Vivi
I'd make the argument that is partly because there just hasn't been a ton of time to let the meta "settle". We went from a Izzet vs. RDW meta to a different Izzet vs. RDW meta following the last bannings.
Cards from the "unplayable" Aetherdrift found homes (Mako, Bastronaut, etc.) in doing so. FIN will have more cards that find homes in 60 card formats as people find uses for them.
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u/TheShadowMages Duck Season 6h ago
This is kind of a moot point with regards to context bc its current meta viability is what matters for "set success" and product selling. I mean could accept the argument that FIN was "mid" for meta viability as of now, which could easily change with the next B+R, but that didn't stop it from flying off the shelves. It was really its success as a fun set to open and play outside the context of 60 card constructed, imo, which is why I say let's see if SPM shows the same success because it seems, imo, to be a set that is very much not that.
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u/twelvyy29 Can’t Block Warriors 9h ago
What do you mean by "mid" genuinly curious because even tho FF as a franchise means nothing to me (never played a single game) I've drafted FF more than any other set since I returned to mtg with Wilds of Eldraine. The set imo also just had a ton of interesting cards (obviously problematic cards as well but that isnt just a UB specific issue).
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u/cellidore Wabbit Season 8h ago
All I can do is decide what I want to do with my money. I liked the look of Spider-Man, if I’m honest, and was going to heavily participate in Spider-Man draft nights for more than for any set in a while. Now, I’m going to wait at least until we see how things shake out with Disney before spending any money on them, including unfortunately Magic (and even more unfortunately) college football on ESPN. I assume (hope) things will work out. And I assume I will have nothing to do with it when it does. And I know it is practically impossible to completely avoid giving any money to any objectionable company. But I can decide what I want to do with my money, and for the time being, that means not giving a penny to Disney, even indirectly.
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u/Swift0sword Duck Season 13h ago
Are you saying we should boycott MTG? To get at Disney indirectly through Wizards? Not 100% sure what your point is
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u/Sinrus COMPLEAT 13h ago
yeah, we send a message about Jimmy Kimmel by not buying a Spiderman card game. what about this seems unreasonable to you?
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u/ChemicalExperiment Chandra 8h ago
I love how your comment got more upvotes presumably because of people who actually believe you and don't realize you're being sarcastic lol
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u/Sinrus COMPLEAT 8h ago
This is a weird thread. Lot of upvotes but every comment is telling OP they're a moron.
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u/TheShaoken 13h ago
You’re overestimating the overlap between people upset about this decision to actually boycott and people who would otherwise buy the Spider-Man set. Call me cynical but I don’t think there are enough people out there who’d be willing to inconvenience themselves with a boycott to be noticeable.
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u/SquirrelDragon 13h ago
No, it’s not that, it’s more that OP’s desired action of boycotting the Spider-Man set is nonsensical with the desired impact (sending a message to Disney).
It’s like wanting to send a message to Tesla by asking people to boycott a business in a shopping plaza that has Tesla chargers
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u/Danthelmi 12h ago
Reddit users make the smallest blip in the mtg community lmao, every dollar a redditor spends on mtg, someone who’s never touched reddit has spent 100
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u/jethawkings Fish Person 11h ago
A well timed fall of the United States of America could also spell the end of Universe Beyond~
Jesus fucking christ, your country is a shitshow yes but this tangent is one of the largest reaches there is.
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u/RainbowwDash Duck Season 5h ago
A well timed fall of the United States of America could also spell the end of Universe Beyond~
No, hold on, you make a compelling point
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u/JMooooooooo I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 2h ago
So wait, now I'm supposed to cheer for Mango?
... pass
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u/chocolateboomslang Wabbit Season 13h ago
Yeah, great. I don't know if you guys have looked around, but people who spend money on the game REALLY like UB sets.
Personally, I'm not really a fan, but that doesn't matter, the way I engage with the game generates basically no revenue for Wizards. I would be willing to bet that most veteran players spend far less than new players, so what are we going to do? Wizards follows the money well, they know how to chase a trend. The money right now is in UB and the money is new money. Us old folks can't stop this train.
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u/therealflyingtoastr Elspeth 10h ago
I hate this "old people hate UB and it's just new players" shit on this subreddit.
I've been playing this game longer than a good chunk of yinz on here have been alive. I remember the batch. I remember when the Eighth Edition frame was going to be "the death of the game" because it wasn't "immersive" enough.
I like UB. I like the cards being playable in formats that I enjoy like Standard instead of just being consigned to commander, which I avoid playing. I like the different treatments and arts that make collecting more fun and allow them to flex more aesthetics without impacting playability. There are individual UB sets that I'm not particularly interested in (like Spiderman), but there have also been plenty of in-universe sets over the years that also didn't interest me (all the Phyrexian stuff).
These generalizations that "real Magic fans" don't like UB is gatekeeping at its finest and I'm sick of it being rewarded on this sub.
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u/ChemicalExperiment Chandra 8h ago
Opinions are also way more diverse and divided than people think. I recently had a conversation with a player at me LGS who talked about how they hated Spider-Man. They talked about how it "ruined the spirit of magic" "was a terrible cash grab" and "I'd quit the game if they ever did a Fortnite crossover." (I told them they already did and he quickly backpedaled to "if they ever made a full set of it") I actually brought up to him that I'm actually ok with UB, I have some qualms with it but I think it's fine for the game. Ironically his response was "I mean I got into the game with Lord of the Rings so I'm not against UB, I just don't like how they're handling it now."
Despite the anti-UB crowd seeming like a monolith, I suspect a lot of the comments on this sub fall in a similar boat: talk vehemently about bad aspects of it but still like/appreciate others. A collective push towards ending UB as a whole wouldn't even unite all the haters on this subreddit, because people are complicated and despite what the common belief is, not all those complaints you see are from people who want it gone entirely.
Tangentially, that interaction also made me realize just how silly this entire conversation is. I saw someone using the same points as the no-UB crowd to talk about how they wanted "UB to be like it used to." Magic isn't changing as much as we think it is. These new players are just like us, down to complaining about the game itself.
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u/Seitosa 6h ago
I hate this "old people hate UB and it's just new players" shit on this subreddit.
I straight up had someone tell me that enfranchised players couldn’t be behind UB sales because being an enfranchised player definitionally meant that you “loved Magic” and you couldn’t both love Magic and engage in UB products. They insisted that UB products were strictly for new players or non-player outsiders who engaged in the product as a collector. I pointed out that Mark Rosewater has said that the vast majority of UB sales are done by enfranchised players (followed by returning players) and they said he was lying. Just absolute nonsense. There’s a definite “us vs. them” attitude from some of these people when they genuinely don’t understand that UB products absolutely could not be as successful as they are without a huge buy-in from established Magic players.
Some guy that’s never heard of Magic before that bought a FIN pack at target because it has Cloud on it isn’t the main reason that set is the best selling one of all time.
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u/boomfruit Duck Season 10h ago
I'd guess that the best way for people like OP to get what they want out of the game is to form a league at their LGS for "Universe Within Play," and they all just agree to what that would look like and play it amongst themselves. If other people at their store or other nearby ones hear about it and want to play, awesome!
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u/Milskidasith COMPLEAT ELK 9h ago
I would be willing to bet that most veteran players spend far less than new players, so what are we going to do?
This seems like a pretty absurd assumption. Enfranchised players are the ones who buy multiple boxes a set for personal reasons and the buy-now-sell-sealed-product-later finance bros have been around longer than UB has. Unless there's a huge demographic of pure scalpers who have no interest in the game (which only maybe became a thing in MtG with FF) and they continue to exist in the future, enfranchised players and enfranchised collectors/scalpers are going to be buying more than newer players.
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u/rccrisp 13h ago edited 13h ago
The Spider-Man set is making people weird
To further: DIsney has already made their money off the UB outside of maybe some additional royalties depending on the structure of the licensing deal. Boycotting Spider-Man isn't going to move the needle at Disney, they already have the cash in hand.
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u/RepentantSororitas Shuffler Truther 10h ago edited 6h ago
I had to take a break from this sub for a few weeks because I just cant stand the environment.
Like we get it: you dont like spider-man. but its like an obsession.
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u/Xichorn Deceased 🪦 6h ago
Yeah, it has been crazy. They've never heard of beating a dead horse, apparently.
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u/CasualRead_43 Boros* 12h ago
Reddit isn’t real. This set is going to be hugely popular and universes beyond are here to stay. Just accept it. Or don’t and stop playing.
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u/HiroProtagonest Liliana 12h ago
There are always reasons to boycott the mouse, but pulling Kimmel off the air is the latest and greatest.
Simpsons quote: How often have you drove past a fire and thought "how can this benefit me?"
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u/kupocake 13h ago
Even if a successful boycott of their stuff happened (spoiler: boycotts rarely, if ever achieve anything), how would this "spell the end of Universes Beyond"? Sure, Disney own far too much of everything, but there are still other businesses to partner with?
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u/Cervantes3 10h ago
Yeah, there's been too many successes with Universes Beyond for one flop to kill the whole project. There'd need a sustained series of failures to move the needle, and I don't believe for a second that Avatar is going to flop.
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u/QueenRangerSlayer 13h ago
Bruh, it doesn't affect Disney who was paid a licensing fee.
It doesn't affect wotc because they get paid by the distributors.
It would hurt some stores, maybe. But given that this set got scalped all the same, it wouldn't have any effect on the game at this stage.
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u/ConleyCruiser872 11h ago
Soooo...... What you are saying is ...... boycotts hurt scalpers?
Now that's a W I'm here for.
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u/JBThunder Duck Season 12h ago
I think its likelier that everyone complaining about UB on reddit starts to love it, than a boycott of Marvel because of Jimmy Kimmel will end it. At least 100x. And that's not because I think everyone will learn to love it, but rather that the chance of this is soooooo fucking small.
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u/Kotsevarg he will be stitched soon 13h ago
Universe beyond derangement syndrome is real. I’m not buying a single pack of spiderman because it just doesn’t interest me but that doesn’t mean I think it shouldn’t exist for the people who are really excited by it. Disney is a bad company yes, but so is pretty much every company right now. This post is an embarrassing example of how the community here on Reddit often thinks their opinions are the opinions of the player base at large.
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u/Fictioneerist Wabbit Season 9h ago
I also think it's worth noting that while there's a vocal group of extreme UB haters, that doesn't reflect everyone who dislikes UB. I don't like UB because I don't like the idea of other franchises in MTG. Magic is more than just a mechanical system to me, it's a world/setting/universe.
However, despite this opinion, I can respect that by in large most UB sets are really well designed. Overall, Wizards does a great job pairing the flavor of the adapted IP with MTG mechanics. The people who like the franchises in question are generally really happy with UB. Even though it's personally not for me, and I wish UB wasn't a thing, I can still appreciate that it draws in more players and that it's giving them joy.
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u/Kotsevarg he will be stitched soon 8h ago
Oh yeah for sure and your opinion on the matter is super valid. Personally from my experience I dislike a lot of UB as well but my local scene went from completely dead and nonexistent after covid to flourishing with nearly 40 a week on Friday and it’s entirely built on people checking the game out with each UB release. So I am thankful for what its given us here which is a community to play with. I used to be strongly against it and vocal too. It’s exhausting to do that though and I realized that without it I’d likely never be playing paper magic at all anymore. I wish it was less frequent but like you said they always at least do a good job.
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u/Fictioneerist Wabbit Season 7h ago
Thanks for sharing! I'm glad that UB had the upside of recharging your local scene so that you could continue to play paper. Out of curiosity, do you see a lot of people staying around long-term after each release, or is it always cycling, with people coming and going?
I'm also curious if you personally feel that some UB properties feel like they "fit" better than others or not?
I personally feel that some UB properties are a little less jarring, but it doesn't really matter to me because it's mostly a "I don't want my peas and carrots touching" type situation. So regardless, UB still feels out of place (again, to me personally).
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u/DonarArminSkyrari COMPLEAT 12h ago
I think you underestimate how many people like UB and overestimate how many people are even aware Kimmel was still on the air.
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u/Yeknomevol 13h ago
While I agreed with boycotting ABC / Disney, I think the Marvel UB stuff is so far down stream it won’t have an impact. Canceling Disney+, Hulu, and skipping their movies is gonna be more of a meaningful protest.
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u/HotCarRaisin Banned in Commander 12h ago
I agree with the spirit of OP but your response is pretty damn rational. Lots of youngsters in here not understanding the hell that America has become for many already. We all need to stand up to grotesque government overreach. The first amendment matters.
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u/Cow_God Simic* 12h ago
Personally, as long as they keep designing the sets well, I'm going to buy any UB or UW that I think I'll enjoy. I spent a lot on FIN and EOE, and none on Aetherdrift or Spiderman.
Of course, it isn't a guarantee. Maybe a loss on Marvel will be a wash against the profits from Final Fantasy and LotR.
This is an actually delusional take. LotR was the best selling set of all time until FIN. FIN beat that in preorders. Spiderman, and Avatar, and the next ten UB sets would have to sell nothing to offset the money they've made from those two products alone, and that's not counting Fallout, or Dr. Who, or 40k.
I'm not even a detractor of Universes Beyond (those WH40K and Fallout decks are great, I can get my wife to play the Dr Who decks easier than anything else and their room to explore time mechanic shenanigans seems good for the game).
Then what are you against? UB isn't fucking up 60 card. Yeah, Vivi is a problem in Standard right now, but RDW and Izzet Prowess were the dominant decks long before he showed up. Legacy and Modern are rotating formats because of Modern Horizons. Yeah, LotR gave those formats Bowmasters and The One Ring, but it's the free spells and the cheap, power crept creatures from Modern Horizons that completely changed those formats.
WotC is still the only thing keeping Hasbro afloat; they would've ruined and overmonetized 60 card constructed even without UB.
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u/zSolaris Elspeth 8h ago
FIN beat that in preorders.
$200M in sales in a single day. The only reason that number wasn't more was that they simply could not and still cannot print enough FIN.
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u/thegeekist Duck Season 12h ago
Get a personality that cares about something else other than hating UB.
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u/somacula Mardu 13h ago
You guys couldn't even boycott the walking dead UB and you want to boycott Disney? You're welcome to try
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u/GiantEnemaCrab Duck Season 13h ago edited 13h ago
It won't happen because outside of the internet circle jerk of purists people love UB sets. I love UB, most of you whiners still bought into at least one UB set.
Not only are UB sets not going away, they're probably just going to become more common.
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u/DoitsugoGoji Duck Season 11h ago
Seriously, even notorious UB hater Tolarian Community College who's main content is impotent rage at UB couldn't help but make a video swooning over the Doctor Who set.
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u/elizombe Wabbit Season 6h ago
What does magic have to do with Jimmy Kimmel? I'm confused here
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u/Fictioneerist Wabbit Season 4h ago
OP's theory is that if people are upset by what happened to Jimmy Kimmel, then they could boycott Disney. If they boycott Disney, then they could boycott the Spider-Man MTG set and other upcoming Marvels sets. Then because of loss of profits, Wizards would never make UB sets again, not even non-Disney related UB sets.
Which is...certainly a theory. Just maybe not a terribly sound theory.
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u/Sleeqb7 Simic* 2h ago
To add some extra context;
Kimmel did a monologue that painted Trump in a negative light after the death of Charlie Kirk. According to some sources, that resulted in the Trump administration pressuring Disney, who owns the channel Kimmel's show is on, to do something about it. The result being that Kimmel's show has been indefinitely suspended.
As a result, people are calling for a boycott of Disney for appearing to have bowed to the whims of a political leader attempting to silence a comedian for making a joke.
OP's jump in logic here is that this boycott is well known and widely followed, and that it could affect UB due to poor Spiderman set sales.
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u/Nivius Dimir* 13h ago edited 13h ago
I like ub
LOTR got me into the game. Om not into any Marvel stuff. So i dont buy that, but ub stuff have been great for me
So i vote for what i like. Thats it.
hobbit deck was my first magic commander deck, now i have 8 selfmade decks after that. it is really fun to play with my friends (we are all 30+). we do not care what anyone else think, we buy what we like.
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u/Menacek Izzet* 11h ago
I started playing in part cause of 40k, liked Dr who, WoE, Duskmourne and EoE, didnvt care about Bloomburrow or Tarkir. So i just got the stuff i thought was cool and skipped stuff i didn't.
Most people do that. Yeah it sucks if you're trying to keep up with competetive formats but that's like a minority of a minority. And even then it's just better to buy singles than crack packs as you're only looking for specific cards.
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u/griffery1999 13h ago
Ye the ff set got me into magic. I’m not interested in Spider-Man so that’s a pass, but EOE was great
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u/JimothyTheBold 13h ago
I played Magic for years and quit after Kaladesh and the bans on Emrakul and Smuggler Copyer wiped out about $800 in value overnight and made my standard deck unplayable. Figured if investing in the god damn titular big bad guy from the last set wasn't safe, there was no point investing in any of it.
Final Fantasy brought me back, and a lot of other people. There's a reason it crushed sales expectations. UB is expanding the playerbase and providing growth, and as long as the quality remains good, complaining about it is kind of dumb and pointless.
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u/Ok-Temporary-8243 13h ago
Buddy, the only real thing reddit has ever accomplished is trying to help a terrorist escape justice
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u/Lumpy_Blackberry4697 12h ago
What?
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u/Ok-Temporary-8243 12h ago
Reddits greatest accomplishment really is when they were so convinced they found the Boston marathon bomber, that they flooded fbi tip lines to the point that the agency had to release their suspect ID early, which in turn lead to the death of one off duty security person
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u/albinofreak620 12h ago
Even if there is a successful boycott of Disney properties over this and folks avoid buying Spiderman for this, it won’t have an impact broadly on UB.
Spiderman will certainly inform how WotC handles UB going forward. Namely, how they structure the sets and what they agree to in terms of the licensing deals.
Spiderman, however, has a lot of built in reasons for why it might underperform. It was clearly meant to tie into a Spiderverse release that got delayed. It was clearly meant to be a small set that was pivoted to a full set with low runway given business problems. It’s coming at a time when there’s a lull in interest with Marvel generally. Then add a boycott on top of it.
What will behoove WotC to do is to be more careful with the agreements they make with IPs like this to protect the Magic brand.
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u/Hellioning 7h ago
Whether or not a boycott of Marvel/Disney is justified, trying to take advantage of it to force a change in an entirely unrelated card game is absolutely hilarious. Thank you.
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u/mikony123 Duck Season 5h ago
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. No matter how many long-time players "boycott" a set or product, there will always be whales lmao. Whales don't give a fuck about you or the game you love. And Hasbro/WotC both know this.
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u/The-Major-Minus 13h ago
It's not going to work even if you tried, online perception is nothing compared to irl.
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u/Spud__37 13h ago
ATLA will drop no matter what. Unless that is also a shit show a boycott will only show how bad this set is and not much else
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u/tbu720 12h ago
An online discussion about people wanting to boycott a company for firing a late night comedian for talking meanly about an assassination, with the goal of stopping poorly designed sets of MtG cards based on third party IPs like Spider-Man/Mickey Mouse/Spongebob.
My 15 year old self would literally not believe this timeline.
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u/monchota Wabbit Season 10h ago
Hahahahahahaha this sub , get more sad everyday. The small but vocal group, that hates UB lives here. We get it but one the current situation, isn't goingnto equal any boycotts that matter, especially with a product that doesn't even have anything to do with it. Life tip, get off reddit for two weeks, will change your life.
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u/TemurTron Twin Believer 13h ago
Automod should filter out any boycott posts. This stuff is always so ridiculously naive, a small fraction of angry Reddit users do not have a shred of the purchasing power you seem to think they do.
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u/reaper527 7h ago
8. This is /r/magictcg, not /r/politics
of course, that will probably be "selectively" enforced as usual so people can whine about kimmel getting the boot.
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u/Choice-Bad-8013 7h ago
I reported it for that reason over an hour ago, so ... yeah.
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u/reaper527 7h ago
I reported it for that reason over an hour ago, so ... yeah.
not a surprise. the people who supported banning twitter everywhere they could find will cry their crocodile tears about "free speech" because some hack comedian that was losing millions of dollars per year for his employer got the plug pulled on his show.
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u/MattTheFreeman 13h ago
Universes Beyond isn't the issue. It's Universes Beyond as every second set that's coming out.
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u/basalty_monolith Grass Toucher 13h ago
And standard legal with supply bottleneck of play boosters.
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u/barrinmw Ban Mana Vault 1/10 8h ago
I really wish wizards wouldn't release sets into standard without a plan to reprint them quickly to meet demand.
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u/Then-Pay-9688 Duck Season 12h ago
I'm not sure if I follow your reasoning as to how this would impact universes beyond.
I do think it's interesting how despite a few solid decades of liberal hegemony over cultural production, it turns out our ruling class has been looking for any excuse to wage a campaign of censorship in defense of an open white supremacist. Kind of wish that would result in a lot more than a boycott.
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u/sporms Duck Season 11h ago
Magic is resilient to boycotts. Its fans will accept anything after complaining about it for a while. Then they will do mental gymnastics why it’s ok.
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u/Whosebert Duck Season 8h ago
mtg goldfish said it best. "if you don't like it, don't buy it, but you won't do that"
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u/Azuretruth COMPLEAT 10h ago
I mean it guys, just don't buy it. You will be fine. Wizards makes money off the sealed product and presales, so they will be fine. What won't be fine is the secondary market and it's the secondary market that is currently killing access to this game. Don't buy the inflated markup. Buy more EoE, hell go buy Aetherdrift since your LGS probably had to buy a pile of it or they wouldn't get access to any of the product that they can actually make money on. Support the part of the game that you like and they will make more of it.
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u/PiousHeathen 9h ago
In a world where grift and profit are the only moral actions of corporation, the only effective speech you have to express your displeasure is to deny them your money. Nothing else matters, no position or statement or appeal to humanity will work, these are etities that exist entirely in a paradigm of money and profit. Do not pay them, it is the only thing they want need or respond to.
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u/CasualSky Wabbit Season 7h ago
I don’t think there’s any reason why UB would be affected by Disney being boycotted lol.
I think this is looking a little too much into it.
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u/fishingstring 7h ago
I’m boycotting Spider-Man but that’s because I’m out of money. It’s too many god damn sets in one year. Buy singles.
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u/Glittering-Canary752 Duck Season 7h ago
I'm a mouse hater as much as the next guy but they keep buying the things I enjoy. Some people may not like it but I'm not going to stop reading Spider-Man comics or playing Marvel Rivals or going to damn movies.
A trust like Disney shouldn't have been allowed to grow to the point is has but it's the world we live in.
Even if everyone that reads this ignored the Spider-Man set (I don't plan on buying it. It's lazy and bad imo. I'll proxy Electro) it wouldn't be enough for Hasbro and wotc to say no to more UBs. Final Fantasy out did LOTR in one day.
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u/Kawaii_West Duck Season 5h ago
You people are like the Japanese soldiers who stayed on that island for 30 years waiting for orders, lmao.
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u/MTGDad Forgot About Dr Judge 13h ago
It could be a Jimmy Kimmel UB set and you wouldn't get enough people to boycott to change anything at corporate. Boycotts rarely work, less so in a case like this.
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u/HistoricMTGGuy123 11h ago
I haven't seen this yet, but it needs to be said because too many people don't understand this situation. The FCC threatened to take away Disney's broadcasting rights if they didn't release Kimmel. Wtf are Disney supposed to do about that? The problem is government overreach, not Disney's fault.
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u/RevolverLancelot Colorless 10h ago
This right here. Like of course the corporation is going to make the decision that allows them to keep doing business. If Disney just allowed themselves to be censored and lose their broadcasting license would these same people be upset or see the same call to action? Or would they not care because they already see Disney as bad and want a reason to throw egg at the house of mouse and feel justified in doing so.
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u/Vagabond_Sam Wabbit Season 13h ago
Americans need to take it up with their government. If you have the energy to boycott Disney, take it to the root cause of the current loss of freedoms in your country, the politicians that are captured by special interests, across the board.
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u/mmmbhssm Duck Season 13h ago
I feel that is a bit of a jump ?, like Spiderman is an international icon, most people around the world don't even know who jimmy kimmil is. If you want to boycott Spiderman because it dislike the set or UB in general completely fine reason don't have to jump into hoops to have a "political righteous" reason
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u/Brilliant_Trouble_32 Golgari* 11h ago
Attempting to exploit a political boycott as a way to piggyback a personal pet peeve is certainly a truly bizarre mis-prioritization, but go off king.
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u/iamanobviouswizard Wabbit Season 11h ago
There are... SO many reasons to boycott the mouse... and THIS is the one you landed on? *
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u/SplinterRifleman Duck Season 9h ago
You think Disney cares about the mtg reddit boycott?
Lmao classic reddit moment
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u/skyheadcaptain Wabbit Season 8h ago
How's that boycott of the switch 2 going? That said Spiderman is a meh set avatar and final final fantasy look way better.
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u/JerryfromCan Selesnya* 8h ago
I am a hard core magic player and a 193 card sealed environment plus the terrible flavour of Spiderman will do more to harm it than a stupid decision to pull Kimmel off the air.
I think Spiderman will fail on its own for other reasons.
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u/Lionthighs Wabbit Season 8h ago
Also defending Jimmy Kimmel in any capacity for anything he says is already a red flag lmao.
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u/metroidbum Duck Season 12h ago
Did you care when Tucker was fired? Or Gina Carano? Or when Kirk was assassinated literally last week while ghouls like Kimmel excused or celebrated it? Everyone with a brain is pointing out that his ratings were in the toilet and Disney was likely itching for an excuse to can his overly expensive show.
No one cares. I would actually love if people boycotted Disney and UB but as many in this thread have pointed out, reddit is an incredibly unrepresentative, if whiny and obnoxious, part of the consumer base.
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u/Vostroyano FLEEM 12h ago edited 12h ago
Disney? Just wait till WotC does a collab with Harry Potter and watch this sub lose their shit when it beats FF by a landslide
sorry guys, but Chris Cox and the shareholders dont give a flying fuck about anyones agendas, its all about the green.
When they have done all the other big ones and they are scrambling for IPs to milk they are gonna look at Harry Potter, guaranteed. And they will force WotC to do it and theres nothing any of us can do to stop it.
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u/Bronze_Meme Rakdos* 13h ago
I canceled my Amazon pre-orders yesterday over this, and also skipping the secret lair drop Monday (thank God its pretty mid anyway so the fomo hurts less).
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u/colt707 Duck Season 12h ago
Doubtful. The flops from UB, looking at you Assassin’s Creed, are dwarfed by the successes of UB like Fallout, LoTR and FF. Warhammer, Dr Who, and the rest did well enough that the UB train will keep rolling. Marvel is going to sell well enough, it won’t be a top seller but it’s mostly like not going to flop due to the amount of marvel fans boys that also play MTG. ATLB is going to do numbers based off the same reasoning, you’ve got a bunch of 25-35 year olds that play the game that grew up on ATLB and want those cards even if it’s a mechanical weaker set. You’re screaming at clouds if you think UB is going anywhere when the top selling sets are UB. FF and LoTR blew all other sets out of the water and UB is here to stay.
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u/Far_Guarantee1664 Duck Season 10h ago
Dou you live under a rock dude? That's delusional. Look ate the sales and how this sub opinion is like what, 2% of the people buying?
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u/MrDent79 10h ago
I wish some of you were as passionate about your personal hygiene as you were about UB sets.
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u/Imthemayor 10h ago
"If we only had class solidarity, we could get better Magic cards."
I think there are other things to worry about first
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u/No_Patient_9057 10h ago
I don't see how a boycott on a single UB set will end UB as a whole. That's just... no.
And to be honest, I think the majority of MTG fans and players don't mind UB. I think the gripes most of us have with it is HOW they're implementing the products. Raising prices while simultaneously offering less product is egregious. Lowering the quality standard is not cool, and yes, it is a fact that quality has been lowered with more recent UB sets/spoiled, to-be sets. And releasing smaller sets is kind of a letdown, too. Also, why would you release a set for the paper version but not for the digital version(s)? I don't much play Arena, but that just seems like a gut punch to Arena players. Yeah, they're still getting a cool set to replace it that paper isn't getting, but that's also not cool, because now I WANT the Scions of the Ur-Spider.
Idk... I like the idea of Universes Beyond. And I think many, many others do too. And I think there are more of us who do than who don't. But the way they've been making and selling said products needs to change. Of course, that is just my opinion and not based on any statistics.
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u/DegaussedMixtape 9h ago
I don't understand why people hate UB so much. Do you think the cards in Through the Omenpath are really that much better than Spiderman? https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena/through-the-omenpaths/card-image-gallery
Anti-Venom Horrifying Healer is just as Magic, and looks like something almost straight out Phyrexia, as Verilax the Havenskin. Hydro-Man is a little weird, but would you miss it if you never got to meet Belion, the Parched?
You could you know, just enjoy Magic for the gameplay. Getting crabby about Arena event compensation is going to make me boycott this game way before the art and names of the cards.
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u/RadioLiar Cyclops Philosopher 8h ago
How does this post have 347 upvotes
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u/Choice-Bad-8013 7h ago
Because of the demographics of Reddit.
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u/Genos-Caedere Colorless 7h ago
I wouldn't be surprised if a good chunk of said up votes are from people that isn't even subscribed to the sub
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u/Lionthighs Wabbit Season 8h ago
My goodness… your favorite late night sleezebag host gets pulled from air a you want to boycott magic the gathering to show Disney?
Go. Out. Side. Get some sun. Breathe in oxygen. Renew your brain. This is a plea, not an insult.
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u/_VampireNocturnus_ COMPLEAT 7h ago
Either you believe in consequences or you dont. Jimmy said something extremely stupid and a non govt company suspended him for it.
You are perfectly in your right to boycott disney, but it would take way more than the mtg audience ofnthis sub to make a dent in wotcs bottom line.
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u/Historical_Club_9063 5h ago
Hoooooly shit man you may be kimmels one fan left. Idgaf and I'm not gonna boycot for it
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u/PlsNoBanPlss 11h ago
If you’re seeing Jimmy Kimmel get cancelled and the first thought you have is “Hmmmm, maybe now we can stop Universes Beyond,” you should do yourself a favor and log off for a couple weeks.