Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Spoilers are here for Masters 25. As I've noticed tends to be the case early on with set spoilers, first glances at set composition can be deceptively mundane. Even well into "spoiler season" for a new set, I am left thinking, "There's nothing good here." It takes a while for the dust to settle and for the cool stuff in set design to sink in. But we've already seen some stuff, more is coming shortly, and we have the track record of five previous sets in the "Masters" series to look at. I think there's some stuff to talk about. In particular, spoilers for this new set come on the heels of some kerfuffle regarding the previous Masters set. Gavin Verhey even apologized for Iconic Masters. https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/future-masters-2018-02-22
I'll note that in that article, he cites draft experience and desire to acquire cards from older/missed sets for Modern/Legacy/Commander/Cube/etc. as the draw behind these sets. The consensus that I've seen elsewhere, or perhaps it's not a consensus but the only people who bring it up at all are the ones saying this, is that that's coded language for what everyone knows to be the real draw: EV. The higher the EV a box of a Masters set has, the better the set will do.
I may be unusual in that I've liked all of these sets so far. They might not be 100% perfect, but they're just all real home runs in my book. Some of my favorite sets ever. I did think that Modern Masters 2015 was a bit of a step down compared to the original Modern Masters and I did think that Iconic Masters was a bit of a step down compared to Eternal Masters, but that's quibbling. Not everyone has felt that way. But it seems like most of the naysayers are either sore about the bait-and-switch with the hidden restocking of Eternal Masters (WotC called it a second print-run, but evidence suggested that they simply withheld part of the original print run deliberately to influence the market) or with the lower EV of Iconic Masters.
I'm curious what people here think. Elsewhere, I've seen claims that they need to print these sets less frequently, that they should stop altogether, that they've run out of sets of this sort that they could make, that the packs are too expensive, that the print runs are too low, that the print runs are too high, and so on. Personally, I just think Magic needs more reprints, that these sets have been hitting far more relevant reprint needs than WotC was achieving prior to this system, and that the sets seem cool in the abstract, even though I've never drafted them and mostly play with my older versions of the same cards anyway. But I'm weird.
Things are looking good so far for Masters 25. All good cards that look good. The watermark feature is a nice touch.
What's not so cool is that Imperial Recruiter is a mythic rare. Without turning the whole thread into my rant about how much I despise the mythic rarity, I just want to note that bumping an uncommon up to a mythic rare is annoying. I say this as someone who already owns a full playset of Imperial Recruiter. If you're going to reprint a card that has been in desperate need of a reprint ever since 2005 (when the set it was in was suddenly made tournament-legal and demand exploded), just do it and make it count. Don't hide it at some stupid rarity where most players will never even see it. I felt the same way about Mana Drain in Iconic Masters, and a bunch of other cards too. If you want to move a card up to rare, then fine. But consigning it to the mythic rarity contradicts the whole point of reprinting it in the first place.
Anyway, as much as I like these sets, I worry that the best they might do is artificially put more pressure on Reserved List cards.
I'll note that in that article, he cites draft experience and desire to acquire cards from older/missed sets for Modern/Legacy/Commander/Cube/etc. as the draw behind these sets. The consensus that I've seen elsewhere, or perhaps it's not a consensus but the only people who bring it up at all are the ones saying this, is that that's coded language for what everyone knows to be the real draw: EV. The higher the EV a box of a Masters set has, the better the set will do.
I may be unusual in that I've liked all of these sets so far. They might not be 100% perfect, but they're just all real home runs in my book. Some of my favorite sets ever. I did think that Modern Masters 2015 was a bit of a step down compared to the original Modern Masters and I did think that Iconic Masters was a bit of a step down compared to Eternal Masters, but that's quibbling. Not everyone has felt that way. But it seems like most of the naysayers are either sore about the bait-and-switch with the hidden restocking of Eternal Masters (WotC called it a second print-run, but evidence suggested that they simply withheld part of the original print run deliberately to influence the market) or with the lower EV of Iconic Masters.
I'm curious what people here think. Elsewhere, I've seen claims that they need to print these sets less frequently, that they should stop altogether, that they've run out of sets of this sort that they could make, that the packs are too expensive, that the print runs are too low, that the print runs are too high, and so on. Personally, I just think Magic needs more reprints, that these sets have been hitting far more relevant reprint needs than WotC was achieving prior to this system, and that the sets seem cool in the abstract, even though I've never drafted them and mostly play with my older versions of the same cards anyway. But I'm weird.
Things are looking good so far for Masters 25. All good cards that look good. The watermark feature is a nice touch.
What's not so cool is that Imperial Recruiter is a mythic rare. Without turning the whole thread into my rant about how much I despise the mythic rarity, I just want to note that bumping an uncommon up to a mythic rare is annoying. I say this as someone who already owns a full playset of Imperial Recruiter. If you're going to reprint a card that has been in desperate need of a reprint ever since 2005 (when the set it was in was suddenly made tournament-legal and demand exploded), just do it and make it count. Don't hide it at some stupid rarity where most players will never even see it. I felt the same way about Mana Drain in Iconic Masters, and a bunch of other cards too. If you want to move a card up to rare, then fine. But consigning it to the mythic rarity contradicts the whole point of reprinting it in the first place.
Anyway, as much as I like these sets, I worry that the best they might do is artificially put more pressure on Reserved List cards.
