The topic of UB is continuing to create controversy as the number of non-Magic IP products explodes. The Professor put out a recent video on the topic predicting a future Universes Within product to make up for all the unique UB cards being added to the mix, but looks like MaRo has quickly shut that idea down.
What are players who don't like UB supposed to do when there are no Magic versions of those cards? This is now just reality.
It’s a shame, mtg has good mechanics and lore and WOTC has been shitting all over it for years now.
Hey I haven't played this game since Innistrad but I still have a Liliana of the Veil. Did I permanently miss my chance to get the good standard OP card money? Will they ever stop reprinting it?
The best time to sell a LotV would've been sometime around 2016 when Jund was the king of Modern and it was worth ~$100. Now the card only retails for ~$18
It always depends on demand. If some new deck out there gets super popular and needs a playset then the price will go up.
For now it sees basically no play outside of commander, but is fairly popular there so the price is unlikely to change.
Interesting makes sense commander is actually keeping the price up. I also had a scavenging ooze at the time it spiked but failed to sell because I was too lazy to figure out online shipping and didn't like game stores, since I just played kitchen table commander etc from the start.
They're intending for Magic to go the way of Lego. A bunch of different IPs in the mix and you'll only engage with the sets you choose. If that's only UW sets, they're ok with that. For every one person that says they're going to quit because of UB cards/sets, there's likely 3-5 people that are picking up the game for the same reason.
The unfortunate side of this is that you don't get left out of competitive Lego if you decide to not engage with a set.
It's a business first, so someone has done the math to make sure that this kind of risk is worth it. Starting with Secret Lairs (Walking Dead) was a genius way to test the idea. Same goes for everything else they've done recently, new foil types, serialized cards, etc. They wouldn't do that stuff if it didn't make them money.
I'm not advocating in favor of this kind of behavior, but it's the reality of how product development works. You ship, test, iterate and ship. As long as they project growth, even if it's at the expense of their most enfranchised players, they'll continue to do whatever is working. You just have to decide whether it's an environment you want to participate in.
I think the most worrying thing mentioned in the video is how many sets are planned to be released for the Marvel universe. We're looking at probably 2-3 years of continual Marvel-related releases, and I think the overall effect that will have is that the UB sets are really the first-class citizens and the regular in-universe sets are actually secondary. I think people will start to associate the game entirely to these UB sets given how much press and coverage and marketing they get. I think enfranchised players will start to look at other games in increasing numbers.
It's impossible to predict the effect this will have, and the effects could very a lot depending on the target market -- casual players may increase but competitive players may decrease for instance. However, one thing I believe for certain is that the way people think about Magic is already fundamentally different, and that UB sets will only continue to increase in total share of printed cards will further change the way people think about the game. At some point, you're not playing Magic anymore, and the players aren't really the same type of people/players as they once were.
