FrankTrollman wrote:Magic is so successful because they sell to Timmy and they sell to Johnny and they sell to Spike. And they sell to these different people who have different buying patterns and ways of interacting with the game with the same packs of cards.
So
very true. For example, there are multiple formats for play and deck construction. The most popular ones in the store are
Standard, Draft, Commander/EDH, and
Modern.
Most of the tournaments we run are
Draft, where players
"draft" cards, one at a time, from three packs of the most recent sets, build a 40 card deck and play. This allows players to be all on an even footing, as no one has access to significantly better pool of cards, and luck is minimized. This allows
WotC to make cards that, while not great for
constructed formats, are
key to making enjoyable drafts. We have about a dozen players who attend most of our three drafts a week.
Elder Dragon Highlander/Commander is a 100-card singleton, multiplayer format, and is the most commonly played casual format in the store. No tournaments, but they buy a
lot of single cards. This format drives a lot of older card prices.
Standard decks are the usual 60-card, 4-of-a-kind max, constructed decks, but only using cards from the current
Core set, along with the two most recent
Blocks. Since sets rotate in and out a few times a year, the metagame
(what decks you might play against) is constantly changing, people update their decks, or build new decks, all the time. This format drives prices for the newest cards. Often our
Standard players have acquired many of their new cards by
Drafting the newest sets.
Modern is another 60-card, 4-of-a-kind max, constructed format, but allows cards published from
8th Edition on. Because sets do not rotate out, it is considered an
Eternal format. The metagame, and hence your deck, changes slowly, so while a typical
Modern deck might cost hundreds of dollars, once purchased, it is pretty much done.
Modern drives prices for recent cards not in
Standard.
Magic is the best managed game brand I have ever seen in my four decades of gaming. When they publish a new set, almost every card is good for
some common format, and they are been play-tested over a year in advance. It is astounding that the same company that have ground a venerable brand like
Dungeons and Dragons into detritus at the same time manage to support an entire gaming economy with
Magic.
Smeelbo
