Speculation: Origins rotation from Standard? and other changes

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wereotter
wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
Wizards of the Coast announced today that their entire release structure will be changed, and such changes will absolutely have an impact here. So here are some things to consider:

1) Core Sets are returning to paper magic. Magic Origins was the last core set printed, and it is the location that the key cards will be printed year after year to keep them playable. If these are a yearly installment, it would make sense that the Origins packs will either update to continue to contain these staple cards, or that Origins will rotate out and new starter Core Set might take it's place.

2) All releases will now be large sets not designed to be drafted together, and planes will be 1, 2, or 3 sets long. This will mean for us no more small sets to supplement existing sets. (Examples include Eldritch Moon added to Shadows over Innistrad, Aether Revolt added to Kaladesh). This is a ways out as after Amonkhet we will still have two sets of Ixalan, but then we are set to have one stand alone story block followed by a Core Set. This will mean potentially less time to be able to obtain key cards from any given sets.

3) Masterpieces will no longer be in ever set. Amonkhet will be the last set to feature masterpieces on a steady basis. They may appear in other future sets, but will no longer be a given for every set to contain them. This now leads to the question of how will unobtainium be adjusted to reflect this change? Likely it will just be used to purchase mythics, unless this ends up going away entirely as a result of missing masterpieces.

So.... speculate away. How does everyone else see these changes as impacting us here?

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  • Corn_Noodles
    Corn_Noodles Posts: 477 Mover and Shaker
    edited June 2017
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    Will there be anyone left playing the game by the time core sets return?

    [EDIT] I always liked the core sets and I'm glad they are returning.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Will there be anyone left playing the game by the time core sets return?

    [EDIT] I always liked the core sets and I'm glad they are returning.
    I did too. Also so many great cards came from core sets, I'm surprised people forgot.
  • Corn_Noodles
    Corn_Noodles Posts: 477 Mover and Shaker
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    Core sets let the design teams focus more on the flavor of expansion sets without having to worry about how to shoehorn certain "staples" in.
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
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    wereotter said:

    1) Core Sets are returning to paper magic. Magic Origins was the last core set printed, and it is the location that the key cards will be printed year after year to keep them playable. If these are a yearly installment, it would make sense that the Origins packs will either update to continue to contain these staple cards, or that Origins will rotate out and new starter Core Set might take it's place.

    2) All releases will now be large sets not designed to be drafted together, and planes will be 1, 2, or 3 sets long. This will mean for us no more small sets to supplement existing sets. (Examples include Eldritch Moon added to Shadows over Innistrad, Aether Revolt added to Kaladesh). This is a ways out as after Amonkhet we will still have two sets of Ixalan, but then we are set to have one stand alone story block followed by a Core Set. This will mean potentially less time to be able to obtain key cards from any given sets.
    Both of these changes will mean less time to acquire Standard legal cards. Standard caused a bit of a schism here, and so I can see that getting worse. What interests me if we'll be able to use our cards from non Standard legal sets if they are reprinted in a new Core Set, like you can in paper MTG. I'm guessing not; D3 want to shift cards, after all, but it also might be perceived as unfairness by some players.
    wereotter said:

    3) Masterpieces will no longer be in ever set. Amonkhet will be the last set to feature masterpieces on a steady basis. They may appear in other future sets, but will no longer be a given for every set to contain them. This now leads to the question of how will unobtainium be adjusted to reflect this change? Likely it will just be used to purchase mythics, unless this ends up going away entirely as a result of missing masterpieces.
    I don't see this changing much... they've already put Kaladesh mythics into the most recent Elite Pack, so I don't see why they wouldn't make up some packs with older Masterpieces.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Yup. But also a lot of great, and iconic cards came from them. Angelic Arbiter, Archangel of Thune, Krenko, Ob Nixilis Unshackled....

    Plus they kept prices of staple cards low :) 
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    shteev said:

    What interests me if we'll be able to use our cards from non Standard legal sets if they are reprinted in a new Core Set, like you can in paper MTG. I'm guessing not; D3 want to shift cards, after all, but it also might be perceived as unfairness by some players.
    We already know the answer to this is no. Tormenting Voice is a card printed both in Amonkhet and Shadows over Innistrad but was not made standard legal.

    Its related, but I do think any time a card is reprinted, they need to update the art file for the card, and move it into the most recent printing's card packs so it can be used again.
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
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    wereotter said:
    shteev said:

    What interests me if we'll be able to use our cards from non Standard legal sets if they are reprinted in a new Core Set, like you can in paper MTG. I'm guessing not; D3 want to shift cards, after all, but it also might be perceived as unfairness by some players.
    We already know the answer to this is no. Tormenting Voice is a card printed both in Amonkhet and Shadows over Innistrad but was not made standard legal.
    But they didn't print Tormenting Voice in MTGPQ in Amonkhet, did they?
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    shteev said:
    wereotter said:
    shteev said:

    What interests me if we'll be able to use our cards from non Standard legal sets if they are reprinted in a new Core Set, like you can in paper MTG. I'm guessing not; D3 want to shift cards, after all, but it also might be perceived as unfairness by some players.
    We already know the answer to this is no. Tormenting Voice is a card printed both in Amonkhet and Shadows over Innistrad but was not made standard legal.
    But they didn't print Tormenting Voice in MTGPQ in Amonkhet, did they?
    They did not. It's already a card in the game so it makes sense not to have two variants of it, but they also did not update the Innistrad version to be legal in standard. 
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
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    wereotter said:
    shteev said:
    wereotter said:
    shteev said:

    What interests me if we'll be able to use our cards from non Standard legal sets if they are reprinted in a new Core Set, like you can in paper MTG. I'm guessing not; D3 want to shift cards, after all, but it also might be perceived as unfairness by some players.
    We already know the answer to this is no. Tormenting Voice is a card printed both in Amonkhet and Shadows over Innistrad but was not made standard legal.
    But they didn't print Tormenting Voice in MTGPQ in Amonkhet, did they?
    They did not. It's already a card in the game so it makes sense not to have two variants of it, but they also did not update the Innistrad version to be legal in standard. 
    They might, in the future, tho, put a card like Inner Struggle in an MTGPQ Core Set. In paper MTG, that would mean that it would be legal to use your SOI Inner Struggle in a Standard deck.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    shteev said:
    wereotter said:
    shteev said:
    wereotter said:
    shteev said:

    What interests me if we'll be able to use our cards from non Standard legal sets if they are reprinted in a new Core Set, like you can in paper MTG. I'm guessing not; D3 want to shift cards, after all, but it also might be perceived as unfairness by some players.
    We already know the answer to this is no. Tormenting Voice is a card printed both in Amonkhet and Shadows over Innistrad but was not made standard legal.
    But they didn't print Tormenting Voice in MTGPQ in Amonkhet, did they?
    They did not. It's already a card in the game so it makes sense not to have two variants of it, but they also did not update the Innistrad version to be legal in standard. 
    They might, in the future, tho, put a card like Inner Struggle in an MTGPQ Core Set. In paper MTG, that would mean that it would be legal to use your SOI Inner Struggle in a Standard deck.
    Right, I get what you're saying. What I mean is I think its fair to assume that given the way they handled the reprint of Tormenting Voice by not updating it to be legal in standard again, it's fair to assume they won't do the same with the core set.

    It's true that anything could change when core sets come out, but I think they'll stick to what they've been doing. I would also wonder if Core Sets will be completely ignored by Puzzle Quest since there won't be many new cards for them to put into packs for them to sell.... which is where I wonder if in order to make money, Core Sets will replace Origins.
  • Corn_Noodles
    Corn_Noodles Posts: 477 Mover and Shaker
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    I'm more concerned that the newest update on the digital Magic front completely ignores PQ. It discusses MDN, Magic Online, the coming Magic MMO (Cryptic? Really?), and the sunsetting of Magic Duels. I wonder if that omission means anything...
  • Corn_Noodles
    Corn_Noodles Posts: 477 Mover and Shaker
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    wereotter said:

    I would also wonder if Core Sets will be completely ignored by Puzzle Quest since there won't be many new cards for them to put into packs for them to sell.... which is where I wonder if in order to make money, Core Sets will replace Origins.

    I think it's safe to assume that WotC will want PQ to feature content from the new core set. Who knows, it might even spur new story content. Unless they cancel the game completely, of course.
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,080 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I'm more concerned that the newest update on the digital Magic front completely ignores PQ. It discusses MDN, Magic Online, the coming Magic MMO (Cryptic? Really?), and the sunsetting of Magic Duels. I wonder if that omission means anything...
    But did they ever acknowledge it much?
  • Sirchombli
    Sirchombli Posts: 322 Mover and Shaker
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    As far as "reprints" in mtgpq, we can't really safely assume anything until we see an old card actually included in a new set. Paper magic has zero impact on this game. They're completely separate animals. We'll find out when and if origins rotates for a new core set. I'm sure there will be some "reprints" then we'll have an answer 
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,064 Chairperson of the Boards
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    As far as "reprints" in mtgpq, we can't really safely assume anything until we see an old card actually included in a new set. Paper magic has zero impact on this game. They're completely separate animals. We'll find out when and if origins rotates for a new core set. I'm sure there will be some "reprints" then we'll have an answer 

         
     
    Tormenting Voice is a reprint. It is a card in Shadows over Innistrad, and it is a card in Ammonkhet. Paper magic, I have to disagree, has a massive impact on this game as every card we see is based on a real card printed for the paper version of the game. The release schedule follows paper magic and every planeswalker is, at least in name, based on a paper card that exists.

    There have been several other reprints in the paper set over the time Puzzle Quest has existed, but since most of those cards are reprints from Origins, that isn't as relevant since the Origins cards are still legal in standard, but just a few examples:

         

    Also:

         

    And:

              

    The only reason to bring up Tormenting Voice as a specific card is it's the only one of these four examples that has been printed in a recent set, but was not printed in Origins, so while the card exists in Amonkhet, the card was never updated in game to reflect that. That means that while it should be legal in standard events, it is not because the set identifier on the card is still tied to Shadows over Innistrad. And while this might not be the best card, it's better to address this now before more cards are reprinted later. Prey Upon is a green staple I can think of right off the top of my head that once released in Puzzle Quest will need to be made available again every time its reprinted in paper magic. Murder would be another for black if they ever released it here, and Naturalize for green.