I followed you until less prerelease events.... You've got to be kidding!! There are many burgeoning young players who can't drive that far AND won't go there because they don't know the player base. I used to go to a shop until the player base became unappealing. I wouldn't go to prereleases now BUT because wizards expanded the prerelease eligibility I can now go to a cheap ($15!!!) prerelease at a non-retail loaction. And that includes ridiculous prize support. "Specialness" nothing.
Hey I used to go to my local shop for pre-release drafts the turn out would be 10-20 people but we always adhered to the new & current rule set because we live nowhere near large scale release events.
what I'm getting at is that no one goes to release events due to the travel distance & none of like to do sealed drafts because we are smart.
I just watched the first 3 minutes of this video and I can tell you that you are already wrong on one thing. I recently (temperaly) quit playing Magic because Shards is such a terrible set. As you pointed out those with the proper mana fixings in sealed events were at an advantage, however this is also a problem in draft as well. The last draft I was in, I only saw one tri land passed my way and it wasn't even in the colors I needed. (more below)
The reason is because people take them right away even before they take the rare. However the larger issue is with constructed. Those who can afford to purchase 4 Reflecting pools are at a greater advantage of those who cannot. You need Mana to win games! The simple fact is that a card like Reflecting pool is a necessity in playing Shards. Shards made the term "Mana fixing" popular again.
I prefer to play game where mana fixing isn't even a issue. If you need green mana play forests. If you need black play swamps. Non basic lands should almost always produce colorless or a mono colored mana. Once you get into lands that created all kinds of mana you create gold spells, those lands become more valuable than land ought to be. In every format type Shards of Alara has grossly inflated the value of land to a point where they are difficult to obtain.
3. Lowering the number of PR venues is not a factor... My group went to the big PR and there 6 of us as the others from our town were to young to attend(parents would not allow) but now that the PRs is in town in stead of a 3 hour drive to the city. we have 12-18 people attending the PR. that seems to be alot better for WotC then the standard 6 of us that went.
Yeah, my local pre-release hasn't had drafts since Dissension. So, I've stopped going to them really. My friends and I have had a growing frustration with some of the organizers to the point where when we'd walk in the door we'd get dirty looks from some of the judges. So, screw pre-releases if I'm not even going to feel welcomed to them.
My prerelease, started with 50 people litarly crammed into a room no bigger then......oh i got it! the back of one of those long tracktor trailor trucks. They litarly started turning people away and cutting losses....only the cuts took a HUGE tole they cut alot of peoples friends and people they wanted to see from across Albany Newyork and even people from Vermont...... The final count by the time stuff was passed out you ask? ...let me tell you it wasnt pretty the finaly number... 19 of 58.
Uhhhhh??? Nicol Bolas could not EVER take the place of cruel ultimatum in my heart... Because well first of all he DOESNT protect himself.Also what is up with him selling at $20.... ReAllY??? No way ughhhhh...
My name is Maya Little. I used to have a grandmother who hated my grandfather very much. One day while at bingo, she had a heart attack and died before she could shout bingo. Meanwhile my grandfather died on the toilet at the same time. If you do not post thison at least 6 videos your parents or grandparents will die tonight at 2:00 am
sorry i hate these things but im scared of them :O
Flavor-wise, I'd say it's highly unlikely. It's much the same as "Target player loses the game" which shows up rarely. I think spells that target permanents are the way it's going to stay. Which is why I think O-Ring was reprinted.
you mentioned how large TOs lost the bank on this policy shift, but for some it wasn't just a record loss: it ended up being Monestary Productions' - the Arizona TO and previous Los Angeles/San Diago TO - death knell. from what I've seen, it's been a pretty big loss here in Arizona. :|
You definitely had one thing right that related to me. Picking what to play in a sealed/draft is hard with this set. If you dont get anything good starting off from your first opening, you could be doomed to struggle. As for attendance, I live in MD. Here, there's only about 4 stores in the state that do releases so most of the stores are packed when events happen, which is good because they have the right amount of judges and everything normally goes smooth.
I agree with most of it - definitely think the prize support was disappointing, but not enough for me to stay away from Conflux. Bigger is likely to be more fun, and I have always thought that a Prere was worth travelling a little more for. Haven't drafted at a prere ever, but would certainly be interested. 2HG is probably less fun than draft, and more difficult logistically.
Don't mind the cards, though - have 3 Ajani's from pre&re events. But going 3-1 and not getting a draft set is silly.
ur very right but theres only one thing good about the new setup since i dont get to go very far having more closer events makes it easier on me or other people who cant travel but to those who can it does ruin the specialness it has to plan and do but all togather u made a very good point
let's talk about the individual shards- once it comes to constructed, does naya become any better ? some of the 5+ creatures are admittedly great, but their support creatures suck.
Clarification on the Pre/Release foils being the same - Rosewater told us yesterday in the designer chat (I'd grab the transcript URL but WotC's forums are down) that the foils were the same due to time constraints or some similar story. They WONT BE THE SAME EVER AGAIN.
At the SHA BIG Prere, I paid 40 dollars, went 3-1 and won 2 packs as a prize.
At an ALA local Prere I paid only 25 dollars, went 5-0 and won 20 packs as a prize.
To those bitching, please keep in mind that different shops hold events differently! There'll still be big prereleases, just now players get the choice of what shop they'd like to go to.
I couldn't agree with you more about the prere. I'm up here in Michigan (we really do have the best prereleases, or so i like to think) and i was EXTREMELY disappointed. even when we did sit down to play they told us we had to stay in our shard - so lame.
My son went to the local Pre-release. I could not go due to another engagement that day. When the event rolled around I was able to attend. I went to sign up the store did not have any foils left so I chose not to play. They had over 24 people as another local store did not get their shipment in time. I signed us up for the release and left. When he got home he said the store didn't have enough packs for prizes.
Regarding the release format. It wasn't that bad. We had to pick our Shard after we got our pool so it allowed us some freedom, but some people had problems. One opened 3 Grixis Mythic Rares, but couldn't play any since his black and blue sucked, but his red was fine. He was forced to use Naya instead of Grixis and lost the ability to use his 3 Mythics.
Evan, thanks for having the courage to say what we're all thinking! It's episodes like this that show why you have become the voice of Magic players everywhere.
Alara's positives: Great for new players (the intro pack kicks ass) and it is limited in size.
Alara's negatives: Adding a basic land to each booster is an absolutely abysmal idea, it won't help new players (given that they don't buy about 100 boosters) and it p***es experienced players off. Also, the prerelease was, as you all know, a legendary failure. Also, this new rarity level, why add it to meet expectations? Just because others did it doesn't make it right.
without timespiral.... the format is.. just awfull.. i was never a fan of the lorwyn morningtide creature fairytale archetype thing it sucks ! cus it limits the deck oppertunaties, and look at the Metagame now.. its all fucking white 5 color weenie cus it just Crumbles all other decks.. and playing control ? forget it u won't have a chance ! no chance at all.. i hate it.. i really do. the control deck awarded the skilled players, but those decks are gone..... i hate no skill needed weenie decks
I had a great pre-release at my local shop in San Antonio where I play (Heroes and Fantasies), it sold out the number of a available seats (48 I think?). Lots of smiles and good times were had. :)
I played 5-color at my prerelease, and made top 8 with it. I didn't open a single c.i.p. tapped land, but I did fine with obelisks and panoramas. If you open up a decent amount of those, you can play pretty much all your bombs. Which is what I did.
I actually enjoyed the prerelease, since my FNMs have a decent turnout and everyone from the FNM was there, there was a good buzz, especially the fact that they weren't tired as hell from waking up so early. I miss the big ones,but im fine w/these
I love how you bitch about the prize support, try living in the uk we get fuck all tournies (no PT ect) all we get now is FNM and nationals + qualifiers they cut champs (states) and then give them back to us and canada....WTf about us?????
well it was my 1st pre-release, I had to drive 30 min. to a card shop, and I actually had fun (despite going 1-4). And Nico Bolas, Planeswalker... ohhhhhhhhhhh snap
my pre-release rocked...kinda. i payed 12 bucks for a tournament pack and 3 boosters, thats a sick deal. what ruined it was some rent-a-cop dude that told the whole group of ppl to leave the food court area where we were because of damn tourists....
btw, i really like the new system of pre-releases. In my city we only have one card store, so its pretty awesome, i think that in bigger cities the biggest card stores should hold the pre-releases, that way most ppl are happy. As for the prizes, LAME.
... i wasen't cool i won both the prerelease and the release and the reason why ! is that all the ''skilled'' players never showed up for this 1.. which SUCSK! and even so when i won i won 5 packs in all ... diden't loose 1 match all day.. and i get 5 packs in all.. jeesh
I like the local pre-release worked out great in my local shop! we only had 25 or so thats all we needed. the drafts part need to be changed!! WE NEED DRAFTS! and screw the "pick a shard thing"
I agree with most of it, bexcept the limiting of preres. I'm a college student, gas is expensive and driving 2oo miles to get to a tourny and then another 200 to get home kills my wallet. All else is about right though. Great show, keep it up :)
One was a simple 4-0 flight, the other was (unknown to me a the beginning of the tournament) a 6 round - break to top eight. Basically a 9 ROUND TOURNAMENT. I won 7 packs at the first one and 10 packs at the 9 round atrocity.
I won both tournaments and I STILL WISH I HADN'T GONE!!!!
I understand that people didn't want to travel cross state for a pre-release totally understand that. But, SOME / A LOT of us do so give us back our old events were we can draft from morning till late at night. Instead of getting shoved out of my local store at 6 for some other event after a disappointing 1.5 sealed flights...
to get on with there Saturday. I got a bye because of that was bored to tears and after getting pounded to bits by Mycoloth in the last round I got a wopping 2 packs for going 3-1... my first prerelease was CoK and I believe I got 3 packs for going 2-1-1. There was no draft way to play more magic unlike previous releases where I'd play morning till midnight. I missed the movie I wanted to see and was just totally unhappy and I don't intend on going to the release or any more tournaments soon.
Well I wanted to hop out of my dorm room walk to the Student Union and play some magic - Instead I got stuck in traffic missed, was almost in the first flight but, for the words 'cash only' why wizards why. Anyway after desperately searching for an ATM in walking distance of my local store as my ride had left I got put in the second flight. Problem is that no one else was coming after nearly 2 hours of waiting we finally ran the sealed with ~20 people oh which several dropped out fast
Yeah, my pre-release sucked, the turnout was like 35ppl and the prizes were 4 packs for everyone in top 8. So many people just dropped midgame because it was so boring. The building had like no air conditioning. Just a terrible experience. I doubt I'll attend Conflux pre-release unless things change.
i went to the prerelease at my local store got confused with all the color and with all my flights went 1-2 drp each time then i got bored on the secondday and spended the WHOLE DAY trading for on of my decks so i didnt get that good of an experience with this new set
I hated the pre-release. i dont like playing sealed with the same cocky people i want to meet new people not be called "noob" and i was 4-0 at the eventide pre-release someething has to change.
Whoah, no wonder why our judge was so pissed and made a crapload of errors.
Also...my pre release was kinda FUBAR'D, i had to go Esper due to the INSANE ammount of artifact creatures i got...only to find that every one of my pairings got a "Hellkite Overloard" on turn six or pulled a lot of naturalizes...WTF? 1-3 :(
I've been playing since Alliances, and my first PR was for Mirage. Me and 4 of my friends drove for 3 hours to the nearest Mirage PR, which was held in what can be best described as a circus tent, with hundreds of people, and oh, THE SMELL. I lost every match and got bad pulls from my starter and boosters, but you know what? I still had A GOOD TIME, because I was playing the game I loved with brand new cards nobody else would get for a week. And that's what PRs are really about.
The prizes were so lopsided. I got second and got 10 packs, 1st got a whole box!! Everyone else got next to nothing after me in a tourney of about 30. Having the same pre-release and release card is also crappy. You're the man Evan, tell'em like it is.
I have no problem if WotC wants to have smaller pre-releases, but destroying the opportunity to have a "big" one is just stupid. I was able to find a relatively big one at a hotel in Denver, with a turnout of roughly 80 people.
I still would have preferred an old-fashioned one, and WotC needs to understand why by watching this episode. Evan, you are completely right here.
I went and got knocked out to 10th place by an obnoxious opponent round 5. 32 players. It was so small, me the top eight and my friend were the only good players.
I hate this. Too many scrubs (errr, scrubs you have to actually deal with), not enough prize, and it's just not as fun! I miss the days of my local friendly judge dqing an idiot cheater. Wayyy, less fun, I agree with you, Evan.
And I thought 2 packs for 3-1 was bad, as it turned out with people leaving like 16 packs were handed out to my flight, 5 packs for the 2 3-1-1 and 2 for the 3 3-1's still around... terrible...
there are problems with the new prerelease format that need to change, but i favor more localized versions. as of shards, there are too many and hopefully they will repair this problem by conflux. i had a very good experience, but it was more like a smaller version of fnm, and that fact is rather sad...
The Beer part cracked me up. you really bring up all the reasons that prerelease was a failure, and why I didn't go. And I'm really glad I didn't I would've had to drive 2 hours to play One flight of sealed for $30, horrible prize payouts, no drafts, and even worse turnout. It's really good to have the magic show to show wizards where they faulter; The new website, these awful prereleases, and getting rid of states needed to be addressed and I'm really glad you're making y(our) voice heard.
I went to one of the "new" pre-releases... At first, I thought "Hey, cool, I can go to a pre-release without taking a plane somewhere!" But WOW... No draft... No fucking draft... That makes me a sad sad panda...
Needless to say, I won't be going to the release tomorrow, but FNM tonight? Hell yes.
I had a good tim at my event as well... It could have been better in a since that, not as man people showed up, however there were about 60 people in a local store enviroment. can't wait for the relese.
I went to having an event that you could BARELY move and STILL have a great time to.... *hears echos* I actually though of calling back my job and ask if I could come back and work a few hours:-/
THen, we split to top 8... WTF. It turns out that I WIN the whole thing. It's 4 am. I go to collect my prizes. It's 10 packs of shards and $20 in store credit that can't be spent right away... in a town over an hour away.
The second place guy got 7 packs and $5 in store credit.
The closest prerelease to me was still a 1 drive away.
I arrived, and there were about 45 people signed up to play in the draft. About 15 of them were all "pro" players... as in, they had played on a pro-tour at least once. It was about 10 in the morning. It was at that time that we discovered that the draft started at 6PM. We weighted around in this little town for 8 hours. By that time, there were 30 people left. We played 5 rounds, Which was 1am by that point. (CONT below)
Oh man you hit the nail on the head with this prerelease BS that occured. I travel 70+ miles to play at the premier location in my state and this year was a total waste of my time. Prizes cut in half, only 80% of the turnout, and NO DRAFTING as a side event. Thanks for all the fun times Wizards no more prereleases for me.
ah, I found this last prerelease to be hideous. as a loyal magic the gathering player for roughly 10 years now, I've got to say that I was very dissapointed with the turnout. I've attended every prerelease since onslaught block, and I've got to say that, though shards of alara is awsome, the fact that draft was out of the picture, which is my main way of aquiring deck building material, lower prizes, and a miserably low number of people, it stood significantly more pathetic than most FNM events.
Like I said, the chaos and numbers that are big pre-realeases ar fun, but there's nothing better than just getting with 7 to 15 people at a friends house on a random day and draft. Then talk about it at a resturant while everybody else is wonder what the freak your talking about... i Love Mtg.
Yea sure I love me some big-prelease events but i gotta admit, i've always ejoyed the local tourny scene as well. Im from a relitivly small town and i've been drafting with the same guys since masques, and nemeis. I think that's what magics about, bringing friends together to do something we all think is friggin cool'. Friday draft's at the card shop then go to ihop at 2 am for another, then my house for a 3rd round? Cool as hell! What's wrong with that?
First Pre-Release for me = No Pre-release for me. WOTC is a bunch of dumbasses with all the horseshit changes for Shards. I will try to go to the release this weekend, but now I don't know.
Ok, this is too much dude. You are a debbie downer. You seriously can't enjoy playing magic anymore. You blame it on everything else like OHHHHHHH it's Wizards of the Coasts fault for EVERYTHING. If you can't enjoy playing sealed at a prerelease for a new set, something is wrong with you. And seriously, whining about how you aren't allowed to do ridiculous stuff you are used to in construction with your sealed pool? That's the point!!!!
his beef is with the fact that the prerelease scene was miserable in comparasin to past prereleases. I've been to many of those in my day, and I've got to say that he has a solid point. he isn't complaining about the set, or even the format, just the planning of the event. next time you might want to take a closer look at what he's saying.
I understand what he is saying. His disappoint reflects everything in this entire episode. He should probably make a point, was it the tournament organizers, WotC, or both? My tournament was great, started right at the stroke of midnight (no 4 hour wait, that would be the organizer's fault). I got my promo and played magic. I don't think he is placing blame where it needs to be placed.
That's funny, I waited for hours at the big ones, and often got treated like cattle. I way more enjoyed the smaller more intimate event. While I agree we needed drafting and more prizes... but it wasn't all that bad out where I play.
and even more, the UK have 1 booster per player prize support, and still I get my best ever turn-out. How can France get 6 per player prize support, and UK 1 ?? Anybody ?
us french dont have anymore these prices,since september 5th.we got a system of Federation provizing every single public prerelease,wuzards made pressure on them to make prices lower and they won.now we got the same stuff as you:1.5/player.still,the federation lasted for years under pressure(it didnt appear yesterday you know) so i wouldnt blame them.Things have to change upon wizards marketing politic...
the whole thing is getting to meet new people. its not much fun playing against people you have played against for the past 5 years and have figured out their style so you can work around it and beat them. its fun to meet new people and try to beat them using your methods of play. I would rather travel 70 miles, meet new people, and play in something multiple times then play in 1 event and feel like I just wasted the entire day waiting for 1 round to end
Whats the big deal ? I'm a UK store owner for 8 yrs now, and its only MTG players that ever moan/whine !! Too expensive, no prize support, mana screwed, fuel/gas costs, too hot etc, etc, etc, and its been like that since the beginning of mtg. It will NEVER change. I love mtg, and that means I've enjoyed EVERY set mtg have produced. I've enjoyed every moment of every pro-tour I've been on, and enjoyed every match I've played, win, or lose. Good job Evan
The one argument I'll make for this is distance to big prereleases. There are players like me who actually liked the change to local prereleases because of the following:
Distance to a prerelease in Detroit: 70 miles.
Distance to a prerelease in Toledo: 25 miles.
And there are plenty of people who had farther to travel to a big prerelease and closer to travel to a smaller one. What's the fun of going that far to play Magic when you have to use half the budget on gas?
I have been playing in prereleases since Torment and honestly SoA had to be the WORST time I have ever had while playing TCGs. I got bomb cards but the whole environment made me want to run into oncoming traffic because it seemed like it would be more fun. The store I was at seemed busy but then again it does seem more like a yugioh store in the first place. I really don't think even having a prerelease is needed now. Its a waste of money now. I dropped 2nd round to go home because it wasnt fun.
I really don't see the issue. We've been having these "small" pre-releases as long as I've been playing the game. I'd much rather go to a local store and play with a bunch (30ish) of familiar faces than drive hours to the nearest pre-release.
I know this might sound hard but it seems like the "flies" are just made for really big Prereleases. Maybe it might have been a better idea to just make one big Prerelease that starts at a specific time and just have a 30 Player seales event lasting about 5 rounds of swiss and by that have a nice event and not making it flies, who afaik are singel elimination.
However you should also realize that you were quite spoiled before, maybe even to an extent that it is fair to cut some of the things in respect to fairness towards other nations.
With all due respect, you Americans are complaining on a very high level. The way you describe the prerelease in the USA now is how they have always been here in Germany. In fact, at my store we only got 1 booster per entry prize support. In the smaller towns we also never had drafts at the side. What we usually do is draft off of the prize boosters. I understand that when you had these huge prereleases and are now confronted with the smaller ones it seems like a setback.
honestly i think this is the worst magic show episode ever...
the fact is shard of alara is a great set, and its great fun to play.
i would rather less complaining... that was 20mins of just complaining like old women rather than saying your opinions on the new set and how you think it will effect standard.
I don't know if the price support for pre-releases and release tournys are the same, but my only experience of any of the above, in a card store in Tokyo, Japan, netted me a foil Wilt-Lief Cavalier (yes, Cavalier) for coming in second of a 16 player field. Winner got one too. Of course we basically didn't pay for anything but the cards we played with and we all had a good time regardless so it didn't bother me at all.
Well...as for the prerelease issue, I agree with you Evan...but we had 37 at the local store, and I can't say that stunk, and while New Jersey is a small state, we still had quite a few people, who also played 5 colors and as for support, its because of the economy. P.S. we had lots o' fun :)
I live in Lisbon, 1M inhabitants and 3 stores, as usual, held prerelease events, considering there are less then 2000 registered players in Portugal it's a completly different univers from the US, prizes are usualy 1.5 or 2 packs/player, my prerelease had a headcount of 78, that's good attendance from the average 30. What I really hate is the land card in a booster pack, local stores give land cards for free if U need them, if U are starting to play buy a fatpack, there is enough land in that.
We also saw some of that "Shady Shop Business" going down too lol. We thought something was up when we saw it happening, but we didn't really care too much. Still though, those extra packs could of been used as prizes :( I'm down with nagging WotC for more Prize support though :)
I've only been to one other pre-release before the Shards one, and I sucked so much back then that I didn't even realize what the prize structure looked like. But last week, me and a friend went to TWO ALA Pre-Releases. We got pwn'd in the first one, and in the second one I came in 1st and he came in 3rd. 1st was 9 packs out of 30 something people, but I wound up splitting for 1st and 2nd and I got 6 packs =/ I was happy with just winning, but I can see why others were pissed.
Yea, I could've got up to go to the "big pre-re" but i decided screw it my local is 1/2 driving time away for same amount of prize (maybe more im guessing now I got semis-loss and still go 4 packs out of a 13-man store tourny.) Agree very dumb move to make a rare/rare new staple and now after 4 sets that's gone goodbye. Magic: The Game that wouldn't die! :D Nice show todya evan
Maybe magic is having some certain "issues", like money, employes, etc. As I once played a game for a while. Its name was "The Spoils" it had the spotlight, champions, fun cards, but the company went into Bankruptcy.. so maybe magic is suffering in a similar way. Although true wizards of the coast is making much cash with their many differnt games its owned by Hasbro, and Hasbro sees what WotC doing is a bad idea as Wotc's events are not cheap like how they had to cut off that 500 budget for PTQ
I'm going to guess this is a very polarizing topic. Our area was so annoyed at the prize structure that we flattened it out so 5/8 got 3 packs and just did a top 8 draft. Because We all wanted to draft.
SoA was the first prerelease I misses since I started going to them with VISIONS. For me it was how red got shafted, shops being a unknown commodity, and the closest big prerelease worth going to was 210 miles away. Epic fail.
Personally, I had a good prerelease overall. It was nice to play with other people I know and the atmosphere was less pressure and more fun. I can't complain about the prize support too much, though I did only get two packs for coming in sixth.
However, it seems like it was a horrible weekend for most other people, and that was obviously NOT what WotC was looking for. Hopefully they'll get things straightened out before Conflux... or the END MIGHT REALLY BE NIGH.
Judgment wasn't spoiled over any sort of NDA problem... The full spoiler was accidentally included in an update to then-in-beta Magic Online. It was of course removed in the next update, which was the next day, but you know what they say about genies and bottles. Of course, it didn't matter if they were going to have a simultaneous release or not, as MTGO was still in beta when Judgment released on paper.
I did not get to go to the prerelease because I was judging Living Forgotten Realms that weekend. However, both were at the same store and the RPGA had more players than the DCI.
Perhaps the best method would be to hold the large prereleases on a separate day so there is no confusion over where to go. I went to both big and small prereleases and prize support was much better at the small prerelease which had plenty of extra product to disseminate. Also tournament volunteers at small prereleases were allowed to take excess shards product for their effort.
This was actually my first prerelease and I don't think it went that bad at all. The shop isn't huge but it still had a 44 attendance. At the end, the top 8 people actually drafted with the packs they they won lol
Prize structure wasn't that bad either, I think my store just ran everything well, people did drop, but it was after 2-3 rounds and those were the ones who wanted to top 8, so they just left. I was pretty upset because I almost got the top8, if I won my last game 2-0 and not 2-1 =/
Ya, I heard the Prerelease events sucked even in this area. But it didn't as much since this was a slap in Matchplay's face for marring the area's good name....
For people who already go to big pre-releases and its no big deal, this past event was a huge problem because there was no real incentive and it just all-around sucked. We couldn't do anything, and there wasn't much playing since you couldn't draft. I wanted to keep playing after my sealed flight, but couldn't because the only way is to have drafts.
I can understand the argument for the local events, though, and its cool if you went to one that wasn't a complete train wreck.
I followed you until less prerelease events.... You've got to be kidding!! There are many burgeoning young players who can't drive that far AND won't go there because they don't know the player base. I used to go to a shop until the player base became unappealing. I wouldn't go to prereleases now BUT because wizards expanded the prerelease eligibility I can now go to a cheap ($15!!!) prerelease at a non-retail loaction. And that includes ridiculous prize support. "Specialness" nothing.
Thyeggman 1 year ago
fucking funny episode
Utubesuxmycock 2 years ago
Judgian Negator FTW!!!! That totally made me laugh. "It exists to piss off" lol
redeyedgamer 2 years ago
Hey I used to go to my local shop for pre-release drafts the turn out would be 10-20 people but we always adhered to the new & current rule set because we live nowhere near large scale release events.
what I'm getting at is that no one goes to release events due to the travel distance & none of like to do sealed drafts because we are smart.
PEACE:^)
drakewraith 2 years ago
i disagree my friend invited me 2 our first pre release at a small local card shop. since then collectively have probably spent over $800 on cards
shooksonv2 2 years ago
shards owned and still owns.
pyroticmaniac 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I just watched the first 3 minutes of this video and I can tell you that you are already wrong on one thing. I recently (temperaly) quit playing Magic because Shards is such a terrible set. As you pointed out those with the proper mana fixings in sealed events were at an advantage, however this is also a problem in draft as well. The last draft I was in, I only saw one tri land passed my way and it wasn't even in the colors I needed. (more below)
jedi1josh 2 years ago
The reason is because people take them right away even before they take the rare. However the larger issue is with constructed. Those who can afford to purchase 4 Reflecting pools are at a greater advantage of those who cannot. You need Mana to win games! The simple fact is that a card like Reflecting pool is a necessity in playing Shards. Shards made the term "Mana fixing" popular again.
jedi1josh 2 years ago
I prefer to play game where mana fixing isn't even a issue. If you need green mana play forests. If you need black play swamps. Non basic lands should almost always produce colorless or a mono colored mana. Once you get into lands that created all kinds of mana you create gold spells, those lands become more valuable than land ought to be. In every format type Shards of Alara has grossly inflated the value of land to a point where they are difficult to obtain.
jedi1josh 2 years ago
I don't want Magic to be difficult, I want it to be fun. Shards of Alara has taken the fun out of Magic.
jedi1josh 2 years ago
3. Lowering the number of PR venues is not a factor... My group went to the big PR and there 6 of us as the others from our town were to young to attend(parents would not allow) but now that the PRs is in town in stead of a 3 hour drive to the city. we have 12-18 people attending the PR. that seems to be alot better for WotC then the standard 6 of us that went.
fwybwed 3 years ago
1. Judges would make profit off of the new product before its actual release.... No more product for you!
2. Local shops can be handled because of the loss of WotC biz would hurt them. Also the Judge running the event or EO should be on the ball.
fwybwed 3 years ago
Yeah, my local pre-release hasn't had drafts since Dissension. So, I've stopped going to them really. My friends and I have had a growing frustration with some of the organizers to the point where when we'd walk in the door we'd get dirty looks from some of the judges. So, screw pre-releases if I'm not even going to feel welcomed to them.
CFDragon 3 years ago 2
oh damn you made them take away a pro tour with ur 'less is more'line.
AARGGHH
bobudess 3 years ago
My prerelease, started with 50 people litarly crammed into a room no bigger then......oh i got it! the back of one of those long tracktor trailor trucks. They litarly started turning people away and cutting losses....only the cuts took a HUGE tole they cut alot of peoples friends and people they wanted to see from across Albany Newyork and even people from Vermont...... The final count by the time stuff was passed out you ask? ...let me tell you it wasnt pretty the finaly number... 19 of 58.
goomaster03 3 years ago
Nicol Bolas will make Cruel Control so much better.
habel123098 3 years ago
he will kill the archetype by replacing cruel ultimatum, it will be bolas control.
bobudess 3 years ago
Are you so sure about that? I mean, you do have to wait a couple turns to build up to the ultimate, and he costs more...
Soulforge00 3 years ago
yeah he protects himself and his ultimate is better than ultimatum, well it isn't an 11 for 1 [you dont lose the one],
but it is more offensive and is better at winning.
need i recount to you the amount of times i have won after a cruel ultimatum resolved.
bobudess 3 years ago
Uhhhhh??? Nicol Bolas could not EVER take the place of cruel ultimatum in my heart... Because well first of all he DOESNT protect himself.Also what is up with him selling at $20.... ReAllY??? No way ughhhhh...
jdsjdsjdsjdsjdsjdsjd 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
This seems rather a focus on the American market of MtG. I suppose this chap is just chatting about what he knows from his local area.
You are whining that the Judges don't get product any more? Complaining about not being paid to do a few hours work in a voluntary program?
Shame on you, really.
If you enjoy the game, then what else do you need?
kvbone2001 3 years ago
getting product isn't getting paid,
it is getting 'compensated' as you cant get paid with something that isn't money.
bobudess 3 years ago 7
that was way bigger than my prerealess
mtgfan1aa 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
My name is Maya Little. I used to have a grandmother who hated my grandfather very much. One day while at bingo, she had a heart attack and died before she could shout bingo. Meanwhile my grandfather died on the toilet at the same time. If you do not post thison at least 6 videos your parents or grandparents will die tonight at 2:00 am
sorry i hate these things but im scared of them :O
SuperHannahMileyFan 3 years ago
What do they mean with Draft?
WilltheAtheist 3 years ago
You can smell the mana problems of Shards of Alara a thousand miles away. Terramorphic expanse, here we go.
brothir 3 years ago
The dude below me is very smart.
electricturf 3 years ago
WOW, OMG Nicol Bolas! He should be rediculous.
[+1] target player discards card a random
[-2] target player discards a card and target player draws a card
[-4] target player discards thier hand and target player draws that many cards
or something really crazy. that is my first idea, but i am sure that he is going to be rediculous
Strichnine19 3 years ago
I believe overpowered is the keyword to good ol' Nicol. Wonder if Wizards will ever make a card which says: "Destroy target Planeswalker".
brothir 3 years ago
Flavor-wise, I'd say it's highly unlikely. It's much the same as "Target player loses the game" which shows up rarely. I think spells that target permanents are the way it's going to stay. Which is why I think O-Ring was reprinted.
thecalmiceman 3 years ago
Maybe it'll happen in an un-set, but hopefully not in a normal set. And Cruel Ultimatum isn't too far from "target player loses the game".
brothir 3 years ago
you mentioned how large TOs lost the bank on this policy shift, but for some it wasn't just a record loss: it ended up being Monestary Productions' - the Arizona TO and previous Los Angeles/San Diago TO - death knell. from what I've seen, it's been a pretty big loss here in Arizona. :|
NightfallGemini 3 years ago
Your vids must be the only ones on youtube that keep me entertained for more than 5 minutes =)
jaffar616 3 years ago 9
I live in Paris France and I was at the pre-release. I would like to say there is NO way we had 6 boosters per person on average.
blaze12g 3 years ago
You definitely had one thing right that related to me. Picking what to play in a sealed/draft is hard with this set. If you dont get anything good starting off from your first opening, you could be doomed to struggle. As for attendance, I live in MD. Here, there's only about 4 stores in the state that do releases so most of the stores are packed when events happen, which is good because they have the right amount of judges and everything normally goes smooth.
mssj4gokou 3 years ago
I agree with most of it - definitely think the prize support was disappointing, but not enough for me to stay away from Conflux. Bigger is likely to be more fun, and I have always thought that a Prere was worth travelling a little more for. Haven't drafted at a prere ever, but would certainly be interested. 2HG is probably less fun than draft, and more difficult logistically.
Don't mind the cards, though - have 3 Ajani's from pre&re events. But going 3-1 and not getting a draft set is silly.
defenestrator12 3 years ago
Only one thing I can say:
Give us back our drafts!
geegeekaythanks 3 years ago
ESPER
voodooman8 3 years ago 2
ur very right but theres only one thing good about the new setup since i dont get to go very far having more closer events makes it easier on me or other people who cant travel but to those who can it does ruin the specialness it has to plan and do but all togather u made a very good point
yugiohfan5414 3 years ago
let's talk about the individual shards- once it comes to constructed, does naya become any better ? some of the 5+ creatures are admittedly great, but their support creatures suck.
mikebott 3 years ago
Clarification on the Pre/Release foils being the same - Rosewater told us yesterday in the designer chat (I'd grab the transcript URL but WotC's forums are down) that the foils were the same due to time constraints or some similar story. They WONT BE THE SAME EVER AGAIN.
Gardevi 3 years ago
they procrastinated with the preview Ajanis, and printing both versions supposedly would have taken longer.
voodooman8 3 years ago
Never been to the big ones but I love the "Small" ones I went 4-0-1 after spliting in the final for 12 packs each so...I like em.
mtgfeftw 3 years ago
Wotc has really been dissapointing me lately.
skism 3 years ago
MY OPINION:
I live in Montreal, QC.
At the SHA BIG Prere, I paid 40 dollars, went 3-1 and won 2 packs as a prize.
At an ALA local Prere I paid only 25 dollars, went 5-0 and won 20 packs as a prize.
To those bitching, please keep in mind that different shops hold events differently! There'll still be big prereleases, just now players get the choice of what shop they'd like to go to.
Stevers80 3 years ago
I couldn't agree with you more about the prere. I'm up here in Michigan (we really do have the best prereleases, or so i like to think) and i was EXTREMELY disappointed. even when we did sit down to play they told us we had to stay in our shard - so lame.
sigh . . .
coving26 3 years ago
My son went to the local Pre-release. I could not go due to another engagement that day. When the event rolled around I was able to attend. I went to sign up the store did not have any foils left so I chose not to play. They had over 24 people as another local store did not get their shipment in time. I signed us up for the release and left. When he got home he said the store didn't have enough packs for prizes.
Droids13 3 years ago
thats what i here "nicol bolas" comin back , but if he comes back , would any of the other legend dragons.
EpiCon3iZSicK 3 years ago
Regarding the release format. It wasn't that bad. We had to pick our Shard after we got our pool so it allowed us some freedom, but some people had problems. One opened 3 Grixis Mythic Rares, but couldn't play any since his black and blue sucked, but his red was fine. He was forced to use Naya instead of Grixis and lost the ability to use his 3 Mythics.
shadowhunter483 3 years ago
Evan, thanks for having the courage to say what we're all thinking! It's episodes like this that show why you have become the voice of Magic players everywhere.
CougarBen02 3 years ago
JAZZ HANDS
jonoisgood 3 years ago
I had a great time even with the low turnout, and found that the 3 color shard structure put more importance on decisions when deciding what to play.
**gift of the gargantuan is amazing
jugadoresantos 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
evan erwin quit bitching
kronos1134 3 years ago
in finland we got kewl ajani virgin deck boxes=better than the actual prize
bouncygangsta 3 years ago
Alara's positives: Great for new players (the intro pack kicks ass) and it is limited in size.
Alara's negatives: Adding a basic land to each booster is an absolutely abysmal idea, it won't help new players (given that they don't buy about 100 boosters) and it p***es experienced players off. Also, the prerelease was, as you all know, a legendary failure. Also, this new rarity level, why add it to meet expectations? Just because others did it doesn't make it right.
PocketUnv 3 years ago
without timespiral.... the format is.. just awfull.. i was never a fan of the lorwyn morningtide creature fairytale archetype thing it sucks ! cus it limits the deck oppertunaties, and look at the Metagame now.. its all fucking white 5 color weenie cus it just Crumbles all other decks.. and playing control ? forget it u won't have a chance ! no chance at all.. i hate it.. i really do. the control deck awarded the skilled players, but those decks are gone..... i hate no skill needed weenie decks
MrsRandomMadeMeDoIt 3 years ago
i'm pretty sure that you still have to be a good player to win the mirrors against the other "no skill weenie decks"
jonoisgood 3 years ago
I had a great pre-release at my local shop in San Antonio where I play (Heroes and Fantasies), it sold out the number of a available seats (48 I think?). Lots of smiles and good times were had. :)
scrubby4130 3 years ago
I had a GREAT pre-release! It was a ton of fun, lots of what you described. Pretty damn fun IMO
Holameamigo991 3 years ago
when can i get those sweet hoodies from nextlevel?
nathones 3 years ago
10 ppl on the sat.
5 ppl on the sun.
sad...
ZenTricktster 3 years ago
i've attended to an pre-release with 22 ppl
fucking fail
2abbit 3 years ago
I played 5-color at my prerelease, and made top 8 with it. I didn't open a single c.i.p. tapped land, but I did fine with obelisks and panoramas. If you open up a decent amount of those, you can play pretty much all your bombs. Which is what I did.
I actually enjoyed the prerelease, since my FNMs have a decent turnout and everyone from the FNM was there, there was a good buzz, especially the fact that they weren't tired as hell from waking up so early. I miss the big ones,but im fine w/these
randyrhoads83 3 years ago
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker = +1, Breath fire, -3, Stomp Up and Down angrily, -9, Poo all over your opponents
PetrichorAllegory 3 years ago
I love how you bitch about the prize support, try living in the uk we get fuck all tournies (no PT ect) all we get now is FNM and nationals + qualifiers they cut champs (states) and then give them back to us and canada....WTf about us?????
richard99th 3 years ago
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker? Hmm...
Nintendude331 3 years ago
well it was my 1st pre-release, I had to drive 30 min. to a card shop, and I actually had fun (despite going 1-4). And Nico Bolas, Planeswalker... ohhhhhhhhhhh snap
heriticsanghieli 3 years ago
the only ppl who care about the local prerelease are pros,i was first in both nights
due to the lack of the "good played" and got ten packs in total 2 hours of driving didnt sound to appealing this year lol
gothlegion 3 years ago
my pre-release rocked...kinda. i payed 12 bucks for a tournament pack and 3 boosters, thats a sick deal. what ruined it was some rent-a-cop dude that told the whole group of ppl to leave the food court area where we were because of damn tourists....
elpandoreo 3 years ago
btw, i really like the new system of pre-releases. In my city we only have one card store, so its pretty awesome, i think that in bigger cities the biggest card stores should hold the pre-releases, that way most ppl are happy. As for the prizes, LAME.
elpandoreo 3 years ago
The sheer fact you used Spoon and Bright Eyes for music makes me smile.
END TRANSMISSION.
d4necro 3 years ago
... i wasen't cool i won both the prerelease and the release and the reason why ! is that all the ''skilled'' players never showed up for this 1.. which SUCSK! and even so when i won i won 5 packs in all ... diden't loose 1 match all day.. and i get 5 packs in all.. jeesh
MrsRandomMadeMeDoIt 3 years ago
I went to both my prereleases. Saturday one were like 48 people. I ended top 8 and got 1 booster pack ^^
Sunday one where like 60 people, I enden 4th in this one.
Just one last comment: new format sucks...
Parejud0 3 years ago
I like the local pre-release worked out great in my local shop! we only had 25 or so thats all we needed. the drafts part need to be changed!! WE NEED DRAFTS! and screw the "pick a shard thing"
oathborn1 3 years ago
I agree with most of it, bexcept the limiting of preres. I'm a college student, gas is expensive and driving 2oo miles to get to a tourny and then another 200 to get home kills my wallet. All else is about right though. Great show, keep it up :)
SaitiOfTheSouth 3 years ago
I didn't go, I'm glad I saved some money.
bruteslayer01 3 years ago
I won both of my prereleases.
One was a simple 4-0 flight, the other was (unknown to me a the beginning of the tournament) a 6 round - break to top eight. Basically a 9 ROUND TOURNAMENT. I won 7 packs at the first one and 10 packs at the 9 round atrocity.
I won both tournaments and I STILL WISH I HADN'T GONE!!!!
StoneThrowingDevil 3 years ago
ben folds for the win. plz more next time.
oatusmcflee 3 years ago
I understand that people didn't want to travel cross state for a pre-release totally understand that. But, SOME / A LOT of us do so give us back our old events were we can draft from morning till late at night. Instead of getting shoved out of my local store at 6 for some other event after a disappointing 1.5 sealed flights...
jahs389 3 years ago
to get on with there Saturday. I got a bye because of that was bored to tears and after getting pounded to bits by Mycoloth in the last round I got a wopping 2 packs for going 3-1... my first prerelease was CoK and I believe I got 3 packs for going 2-1-1. There was no draft way to play more magic unlike previous releases where I'd play morning till midnight. I missed the movie I wanted to see and was just totally unhappy and I don't intend on going to the release or any more tournaments soon.
jahs389 3 years ago
Well I wanted to hop out of my dorm room walk to the Student Union and play some magic - Instead I got stuck in traffic missed, was almost in the first flight but, for the words 'cash only' why wizards why. Anyway after desperately searching for an ATM in walking distance of my local store as my ride had left I got put in the second flight. Problem is that no one else was coming after nearly 2 hours of waiting we finally ran the sealed with ~20 people oh which several dropped out fast
jahs389 3 years ago
Yeah, my pre-release sucked, the turnout was like 35ppl and the prizes were 4 packs for everyone in top 8. So many people just dropped midgame because it was so boring. The building had like no air conditioning. Just a terrible experience. I doubt I'll attend Conflux pre-release unless things change.
Blazefire01 3 years ago
i went to the prerelease at my local store got confused with all the color and with all my flights went 1-2 drp each time then i got bored on the secondday and spended the WHOLE DAY trading for on of my decks so i didnt get that good of an experience with this new set
randall250 3 years ago
I hated the pre-release. i dont like playing sealed with the same cocky people i want to meet new people not be called "noob" and i was 4-0 at the eventide pre-release someething has to change.
cherrios222 3 years ago
Whoah, no wonder why our judge was so pissed and made a crapload of errors.
Also...my pre release was kinda FUBAR'D, i had to go Esper due to the INSANE ammount of artifact creatures i got...only to find that every one of my pairings got a "Hellkite Overloard" on turn six or pulled a lot of naturalizes...WTF? 1-3 :(
4GDragon 3 years ago
My $0.02:
I've been playing since Alliances, and my first PR was for Mirage. Me and 4 of my friends drove for 3 hours to the nearest Mirage PR, which was held in what can be best described as a circus tent, with hundreds of people, and oh, THE SMELL. I lost every match and got bad pulls from my starter and boosters, but you know what? I still had A GOOD TIME, because I was playing the game I loved with brand new cards nobody else would get for a week. And that's what PRs are really about.
ordinaryk 3 years ago
:( :( :(
gunhoproudctions 3 years ago
The prizes were so lopsided. I got second and got 10 packs, 1st got a whole box!! Everyone else got next to nothing after me in a tourney of about 30. Having the same pre-release and release card is also crappy. You're the man Evan, tell'em like it is.
maudin8 3 years ago
I have no problem if WotC wants to have smaller pre-releases, but destroying the opportunity to have a "big" one is just stupid. I was able to find a relatively big one at a hotel in Denver, with a turnout of roughly 80 people.
I still would have preferred an old-fashioned one, and WotC needs to understand why by watching this episode. Evan, you are completely right here.
JBauer6430 3 years ago
I hate the new system.
I went and got knocked out to 10th place by an obnoxious opponent round 5. 32 players. It was so small, me the top eight and my friend were the only good players.
I hate this. Too many scrubs (errr, scrubs you have to actually deal with), not enough prize, and it's just not as fun! I miss the days of my local friendly judge dqing an idiot cheater. Wayyy, less fun, I agree with you, Evan.
Socialism4Ever 3 years ago
I don't go to pre-releases anyway, but if the prize support is that crappy, that will make me not even think about going.
However, have you thought about maybe the gas crisis kept alot of people from driving the distance? I bet that's part of the reason.
madfrog1 3 years ago
The nicol bolas thing upsets me that would have been so much cooler if it wasnt spoiled
Genericpersonnumber1 3 years ago
3-1 and only 2 packs!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! My god that's worse than the release prize support at my store
starwarsmaniac93 3 years ago
I got one pack for going 3-1.
gtisawesome 3 years ago
wow that's absolutely terrible
starwarsmaniac93 3 years ago
a guy went 2-2 at my prerelease and got 11 due to little people showing up
thetrigger41 3 years ago
And I thought 2 packs for 3-1 was bad, as it turned out with people leaving like 16 packs were handed out to my flight, 5 packs for the 2 3-1-1 and 2 for the 3 3-1's still around... terrible...
jahs389 3 years ago
there are problems with the new prerelease format that need to change, but i favor more localized versions. as of shards, there are too many and hopefully they will repair this problem by conflux. i had a very good experience, but it was more like a smaller version of fnm, and that fact is rather sad...
isaozimmer 3 years ago
The Beer part cracked me up. you really bring up all the reasons that prerelease was a failure, and why I didn't go. And I'm really glad I didn't I would've had to drive 2 hours to play One flight of sealed for $30, horrible prize payouts, no drafts, and even worse turnout. It's really good to have the magic show to show wizards where they faulter; The new website, these awful prereleases, and getting rid of states needed to be addressed and I'm really glad you're making y(our) voice heard.
Zero300000 3 years ago
I'll take a smaller, less special event over spending $70-100 in gas and 5 hours to reach a pre-release any day of the week.
MasterOGA 3 years ago
I went to one of the "new" pre-releases... At first, I thought "Hey, cool, I can go to a pre-release without taking a plane somewhere!" But WOW... No draft... No fucking draft... That makes me a sad sad panda...
Needless to say, I won't be going to the release tomorrow, but FNM tonight? Hell yes.
PS: I <3 Sedris, the Traitor King
GodOfGamblers81690 3 years ago
my pre release didnt happen yet ... I m from brazil ... still waiting
corramary 3 years ago
I had a good tim at my event as well... It could have been better in a since that, not as man people showed up, however there were about 60 people in a local store enviroment. can't wait for the relese.
whispersilentz 3 years ago
badass intro!!!
punkoscar 3 years ago
The Entire Event was a Train Wreck.
I went to having an event that you could BARELY move and STILL have a great time to.... *hears echos* I actually though of calling back my job and ask if I could come back and work a few hours:-/
Sapphiretri 3 years ago
Spot on Even Erwin, spot on.
PetrichorAllegory 3 years ago
THen, we split to top 8... WTF. It turns out that I WIN the whole thing. It's 4 am. I go to collect my prizes. It's 10 packs of shards and $20 in store credit that can't be spent right away... in a town over an hour away.
The second place guy got 7 packs and $5 in store credit.
Everyone else in the top 8 got a pack each.
I'm totally not making this up
leoryn363 3 years ago
The closest prerelease to me was still a 1 drive away.
I arrived, and there were about 45 people signed up to play in the draft. About 15 of them were all "pro" players... as in, they had played on a pro-tour at least once. It was about 10 in the morning. It was at that time that we discovered that the draft started at 6PM. We weighted around in this little town for 8 hours. By that time, there were 30 people left. We played 5 rounds, Which was 1am by that point. (CONT below)
leoryn363 3 years ago
Oh man you hit the nail on the head with this prerelease BS that occured. I travel 70+ miles to play at the premier location in my state and this year was a total waste of my time. Prizes cut in half, only 80% of the turnout, and NO DRAFTING as a side event. Thanks for all the fun times Wizards no more prereleases for me.
soulessone4 3 years ago
wow. wizards are really trying to piss people off.
Queijin84 3 years ago
ah, I found this last prerelease to be hideous. as a loyal magic the gathering player for roughly 10 years now, I've got to say that I was very dissapointed with the turnout. I've attended every prerelease since onslaught block, and I've got to say that, though shards of alara is awsome, the fact that draft was out of the picture, which is my main way of aquiring deck building material, lower prizes, and a miserably low number of people, it stood significantly more pathetic than most FNM events.
zasz13 3 years ago
Something tells me Nicol was the dragon that Vol is looking for.
WickedDealer 3 years ago 2
That'd be really interesting!
Haxek 3 years ago
Like I said, the chaos and numbers that are big pre-realeases ar fun, but there's nothing better than just getting with 7 to 15 people at a friends house on a random day and draft. Then talk about it at a resturant while everybody else is wonder what the freak your talking about... i Love Mtg.
koalarunner 3 years ago
Yea sure I love me some big-prelease events but i gotta admit, i've always ejoyed the local tourny scene as well. Im from a relitivly small town and i've been drafting with the same guys since masques, and nemeis. I think that's what magics about, bringing friends together to do something we all think is friggin cool'. Friday draft's at the card shop then go to ihop at 2 am for another, then my house for a 3rd round? Cool as hell! What's wrong with that?
koalarunner 3 years ago
i went to my prerealese and the drafting wasnt there and sealed was terrible
Amanisawesome 3 years ago
First Pre-Release for me = No Pre-release for me. WOTC is a bunch of dumbasses with all the horseshit changes for Shards. I will try to go to the release this weekend, but now I don't know.
WickedDealer 3 years ago
Ok, this is too much dude. You are a debbie downer. You seriously can't enjoy playing magic anymore. You blame it on everything else like OHHHHHHH it's Wizards of the Coasts fault for EVERYTHING. If you can't enjoy playing sealed at a prerelease for a new set, something is wrong with you. And seriously, whining about how you aren't allowed to do ridiculous stuff you are used to in construction with your sealed pool? That's the point!!!!
doomtomb3 3 years ago
Our prerelease in Cologne was attended by about 50 people, which was about double of normal. The owner was so amazed he took pictures.
although i dont think this success had anything to do with the new structure but rather with the set itself.
ndes0532 3 years ago
Shards of Fail? Cmon Evan. You can't enjoy anything can you?
doomtomb3 3 years ago 2
his beef is with the fact that the prerelease scene was miserable in comparasin to past prereleases. I've been to many of those in my day, and I've got to say that he has a solid point. he isn't complaining about the set, or even the format, just the planning of the event. next time you might want to take a closer look at what he's saying.
zasz13 3 years ago
I understand what he is saying. His disappoint reflects everything in this entire episode. He should probably make a point, was it the tournament organizers, WotC, or both? My tournament was great, started right at the stroke of midnight (no 4 hour wait, that would be the organizer's fault). I got my promo and played magic. I don't think he is placing blame where it needs to be placed.
doomtomb3 3 years ago
its safe to say the shards pre release pissed me off limited deckbuilding is so friggin hard
thetrigger41 3 years ago
That's funny, I waited for hours at the big ones, and often got treated like cattle. I way more enjoyed the smaller more intimate event. While I agree we needed drafting and more prizes... but it wasn't all that bad out where I play.
pandafarmer 3 years ago
and even more, the UK have 1 booster per player prize support, and still I get my best ever turn-out. How can France get 6 per player prize support, and UK 1 ?? Anybody ?
gazza006 3 years ago
us french dont have anymore these prices,since september 5th.we got a system of Federation provizing every single public prerelease,wuzards made pressure on them to make prices lower and they won.now we got the same stuff as you:1.5/player.still,the federation lasted for years under pressure(it didnt appear yesterday you know) so i wouldnt blame them.Things have to change upon wizards marketing politic...
Nactra 3 years ago
wah wah wah, cry me a fuckin' river, evan.
ubernerd35 3 years ago
the whole thing is getting to meet new people. its not much fun playing against people you have played against for the past 5 years and have figured out their style so you can work around it and beat them. its fun to meet new people and try to beat them using your methods of play. I would rather travel 70 miles, meet new people, and play in something multiple times then play in 1 event and feel like I just wasted the entire day waiting for 1 round to end
Schneider0112 3 years ago
Oh, and by the way, I got my best ever turn-out for a pre-release at both events I ran, on both days. This may be a UK thing, but I'm happy.
gazza006 3 years ago
Whats the big deal ? I'm a UK store owner for 8 yrs now, and its only MTG players that ever moan/whine !! Too expensive, no prize support, mana screwed, fuel/gas costs, too hot etc, etc, etc, and its been like that since the beginning of mtg. It will NEVER change. I love mtg, and that means I've enjoyed EVERY set mtg have produced. I've enjoyed every moment of every pro-tour I've been on, and enjoyed every match I've played, win, or lose. Good job Evan
gazza006 3 years ago
The one argument I'll make for this is distance to big prereleases. There are players like me who actually liked the change to local prereleases because of the following:
Distance to a prerelease in Detroit: 70 miles.
Distance to a prerelease in Toledo: 25 miles.
And there are plenty of people who had farther to travel to a big prerelease and closer to travel to a smaller one. What's the fun of going that far to play Magic when you have to use half the budget on gas?
IlGreven 3 years ago
I have been playing in prereleases since Torment and honestly SoA had to be the WORST time I have ever had while playing TCGs. I got bomb cards but the whole environment made me want to run into oncoming traffic because it seemed like it would be more fun. The store I was at seemed busy but then again it does seem more like a yugioh store in the first place. I really don't think even having a prerelease is needed now. Its a waste of money now. I dropped 2nd round to go home because it wasnt fun.
Schneider0112 3 years ago
I really don't see the issue. We've been having these "small" pre-releases as long as I've been playing the game. I'd much rather go to a local store and play with a bunch (30ish) of familiar faces than drive hours to the nearest pre-release.
Omena 3 years ago
I know this might sound hard but it seems like the "flies" are just made for really big Prereleases. Maybe it might have been a better idea to just make one big Prerelease that starts at a specific time and just have a 30 Player seales event lasting about 5 rounds of swiss and by that have a nice event and not making it flies, who afaik are singel elimination.
zocktol 3 years ago
ctd. from above:
However you should also realize that you were quite spoiled before, maybe even to an extent that it is fair to cut some of the things in respect to fairness towards other nations.
PropabiliTea 3 years ago 2
With all due respect, you Americans are complaining on a very high level. The way you describe the prerelease in the USA now is how they have always been here in Germany. In fact, at my store we only got 1 booster per entry prize support. In the smaller towns we also never had drafts at the side. What we usually do is draft off of the prize boosters. I understand that when you had these huge prereleases and are now confronted with the smaller ones it seems like a setback.
PropabiliTea 3 years ago 2
honestly i think this is the worst magic show episode ever...
the fact is shard of alara is a great set, and its great fun to play.
i would rather less complaining... that was 20mins of just complaining like old women rather than saying your opinions on the new set and how you think it will effect standard.
not good.
peequin 3 years ago 3
The Prerelease sucked
ok here in Germany we're used to a small number of attendants, but overall the things that pissed me off most are. one weekend of Prerelease: GONE!
Sanctioned Side event Drafts with the new set: GONE!
Ek0p 3 years ago
I don't know if the price support for pre-releases and release tournys are the same, but my only experience of any of the above, in a card store in Tokyo, Japan, netted me a foil Wilt-Lief Cavalier (yes, Cavalier) for coming in second of a 16 player field. Winner got one too. Of course we basically didn't pay for anything but the cards we played with and we all had a good time regardless so it didn't bother me at all.
ShogunCharlie 3 years ago
Well...as for the prerelease issue, I agree with you Evan...but we had 37 at the local store, and I can't say that stunk, and while New Jersey is a small state, we still had quite a few people, who also played 5 colors and as for support, its because of the economy. P.S. we had lots o' fun :)
proffessors 3 years ago
I live in Lisbon, 1M inhabitants and 3 stores, as usual, held prerelease events, considering there are less then 2000 registered players in Portugal it's a completly different univers from the US, prizes are usualy 1.5 or 2 packs/player, my prerelease had a headcount of 78, that's good attendance from the average 30. What I really hate is the land card in a booster pack, local stores give land cards for free if U need them, if U are starting to play buy a fatpack, there is enough land in that.
baptistamiguel 3 years ago
W00t Bolas as a PW O.O...i cant wait till Jaya gets her PW form..and till they finaly print Jodah altho probably as a Legendary
RAIKIRIUSER27 3 years ago
Corryn4 3 years ago
Corryn4 3 years ago
Corryn4 3 years ago
Corryn4 3 years ago
There's other reasons why magic is failing not only by their dumb ass decisions. But the economy sucks right now....
amarvelfreak 3 years ago
We also saw some of that "Shady Shop Business" going down too lol. We thought something was up when we saw it happening, but we didn't really care too much. Still though, those extra packs could of been used as prizes :( I'm down with nagging WotC for more Prize support though :)
PS- Awesome episode.
PhantomKing5 3 years ago
I've only been to one other pre-release before the Shards one, and I sucked so much back then that I didn't even realize what the prize structure looked like. But last week, me and a friend went to TWO ALA Pre-Releases. We got pwn'd in the first one, and in the second one I came in 1st and he came in 3rd. 1st was 9 packs out of 30 something people, but I wound up splitting for 1st and 2nd and I got 6 packs =/ I was happy with just winning, but I can see why others were pissed.
PhantomKing5 3 years ago
Yea, I could've got up to go to the "big pre-re" but i decided screw it my local is 1/2 driving time away for same amount of prize (maybe more im guessing now I got semis-loss and still go 4 packs out of a 13-man store tourny.) Agree very dumb move to make a rare/rare new staple and now after 4 sets that's gone goodbye. Magic: The Game that wouldn't die! :D Nice show todya evan
Darklurkr 3 years ago
Maybe magic is having some certain "issues", like money, employes, etc. As I once played a game for a while. Its name was "The Spoils" it had the spotlight, champions, fun cards, but the company went into Bankruptcy.. so maybe magic is suffering in a similar way. Although true wizards of the coast is making much cash with their many differnt games its owned by Hasbro, and Hasbro sees what WotC doing is a bad idea as Wotc's events are not cheap like how they had to cut off that 500 budget for PTQ
RockFist 3 years ago
My store decided to do 7 rounds. SEVEN. After the 4th round, it seemed like half the people had dropped.
jvdthwip 3 years ago
Why isn't Conflux out already? Wizards should just go ahead and release it now, I mean, theriously you guithe.
jvdthwip 3 years ago
I'm going to guess this is a very polarizing topic. Our area was so annoyed at the prize structure that we flattened it out so 5/8 got 3 packs and just did a top 8 draft. Because We all wanted to draft.
Slio9 3 years ago
i dont know what the prizes were exactly, but the local pre release had about 50 players and i seen alot of good games going on.
agdstardust 3 years ago
I HATE IT! i came first, going 5-0.... i got 4 packs... FOUR PACKS FOR FIRST?
StranglingSoot 3 years ago
SoA was the first prerelease I misses since I started going to them with VISIONS. For me it was how red got shafted, shops being a unknown commodity, and the closest big prerelease worth going to was 210 miles away. Epic fail.
palaguin 3 years ago
Personally, I had a good prerelease overall. It was nice to play with other people I know and the atmosphere was less pressure and more fun. I can't complain about the prize support too much, though I did only get two packs for coming in sixth.
However, it seems like it was a horrible weekend for most other people, and that was obviously NOT what WotC was looking for. Hopefully they'll get things straightened out before Conflux... or the END MIGHT REALLY BE NIGH.
riotsword 3 years ago
Judgment wasn't spoiled over any sort of NDA problem... The full spoiler was accidentally included in an update to then-in-beta Magic Online. It was of course removed in the next update, which was the next day, but you know what they say about genies and bottles. Of course, it didn't matter if they were going to have a simultaneous release or not, as MTGO was still in beta when Judgment released on paper.
But yeah. Prerelease.... Grr.
WhytePanther 3 years ago
I did not get to go to the prerelease because I was judging Living Forgotten Realms that weekend. However, both were at the same store and the RPGA had more players than the DCI.
EldricIV 3 years ago
Thanks for saying something about the Prereleases, Evan. Maybe WotC will do something now that you called them out on this.
witchapparatus 3 years ago
Perhaps the best method would be to hold the large prereleases on a separate day so there is no confusion over where to go. I went to both big and small prereleases and prize support was much better at the small prerelease which had plenty of extra product to disseminate. Also tournament volunteers at small prereleases were allowed to take excess shards product for their effort.
FredTedEd 3 years ago
The kid on the bike into the house is the perfect example of how my team's pre-release events went. Horrendous.
AxlStrife0 3 years ago
This was actually my first prerelease and I don't think it went that bad at all. The shop isn't huge but it still had a 44 attendance. At the end, the top 8 people actually drafted with the packs they they won lol
Prize structure wasn't that bad either, I think my store just ran everything well, people did drop, but it was after 2-3 rounds and those were the ones who wanted to top 8, so they just left. I was pretty upset because I almost got the top8, if I won my last game 2-0 and not 2-1 =/
TheBirdsGoTweet 3 years ago
hopefully they listen to you..
And i was like OMFG when I saw Nicol Bolas before I saw this, I was glad I wasn't the only one... XP
Benjerman 3 years ago
Ya, I heard the Prerelease events sucked even in this area. But it didn't as much since this was a slap in Matchplay's face for marring the area's good name....
mercenarybdu 3 years ago
For people who already go to big pre-releases and its no big deal, this past event was a huge problem because there was no real incentive and it just all-around sucked. We couldn't do anything, and there wasn't much playing since you couldn't draft. I wanted to keep playing after my sealed flight, but couldn't because the only way is to have drafts.
I can understand the argument for the local events, though, and its cool if you went to one that wasn't a complete train wreck.
6Anonymous6 3 years ago