Magic: The Lottery

I hate that this is the first post in December about magic :P


But unfortunately it was the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about writing somethng about Magic and then this came in.


Its not even well thought out.... I think it got something to do with people visiting my old post about quitting Standard.


Well I am still here. Even with all the BFZ bs :)



Well I think it was specifically the BFZ bs that got this post going :P



Back in that old post it was a combination of I think MM and Conspiracy that got me quite annoyed. I boycotted the shop (whether or not they were guilty) for a year (my boycott ended October this year). So I am still patronising the store but they have lost my business in terms of the case that I would normally buy for each set.

Its really no big loss for them since I think after Oath of the Gatewatch I will seriously drop to 1 case per set.


In the past, with 1 case I can guarantee all rares and with 2 case i can get most mythics, while buying singles for the rest.


This has allowed me to keep up the illusion of collecting everything in the set. With recent dip in quality due to NWO (New World Order bs by WOTC), I dunno I feel like i am buying extremely expensive toilet paper.

This is now not a matter of the retailer exploiting the player base. This is now the producers of the game doing some very blatant milking. To the point that buying Magic is now like buying the lotto.


Now Magic has always been a little like gambling or lotto. In the local context it is called "Tikam" where a surprise is kept in a little bag, but you cannot see the toy inside. Magic is just glorified version of "Tikam".

In the past the value of a card is circumstantial, it is derived from its play value. So in that sense the randomisation of the card in a booster is really just to do that: randomise. This is to facilitate limited. At least that is the official stance (the real stance is really to spread butter thin the card/design equity so that WOTC can milk us for longer). Now however with BFZ and OGW sets, there are foil mythic rarity inserts of the fetches and some older desirable cards. Which have KNOWN value. i.e. they are explicitly egging players to buy to get the chase cards.

I feel like that this has crossed the line and turned opening boosters into a lottery.


Now.


The truth is when you watch player "whacking" a box. it is really like a gambling run. Usually the player will open booster after booster. This happens with all sets. However the thing is, it is the player's fault for chasing the desired single. And in most cases the effect is not really that bad as the chance of getting the desired card is usually not that bad. The player likely does not get financially ruined. Also in most cases, he should be able to sell some or most of the rare/mythics that were opened.


The game change now is that:
1) The rarity of desired cards has gone up.

2) The quality of the cards have gone DOWN.


This is a double whammy. Players who do not draft but "whack" packs will now need to open many many more packs to get the expedition foils in BFZ and OGW. Sure this is the player's fault, we do not NEED the expedition foils to be competitive. but lets face it, it is becoming a lottery. And fetches are staples. It needs to be distributed better.

The 2nd whammy? In the past an entrenched player locked into getting that elusive specific card (I am trying to avoid the word addicted.. but oops i said it...) would open many packs and still be able to sell of the unwanted cards. In BFZ the card quality is so bad it is even shunned in current Standard. In other words, it is what i call the "toliet paper" effect. The player has just bought very expensive toilet paper! So it can be a very big loss if the player opened alot but does not get the better expedition foils.


Is any of this WOTC's fault?



I am inclined to say no. For the same reason that there are the Singapore Pools and so on, such activities are just part of life.

The onus is on players to practice due diligence in curbing their ... ahem  urges to "whack" packs like a demented wombat. WOTC is just a business selling packs. As a player I hate limited and I can see clearly that the current marketing scheme is just to spread card equity extremely thinly while at the same time creating demand. I.E. Limited is just the scapegoat. You can have limited with high card equity (and by this I don't necessarily mean monetory value, but that usually follows functional play value, in fact if the functional play value of everything is high, price is actually not an issue, but thats another story).

As players, my advice:

Let your dollar speak for itself. I have not really joined any limited events, I am seriously considering not going for prereleases as it is essentially a limited event, (however prereleases are special to me so that might be the only exception I make... if I do).

As for my normal buying I will still likely stay with the same volume for OGW but likely dropping to 1 case or less for future sets. I guess I might be seriously just joining the singles crowd lol  But I have come to realise I cannot afford expedition chase (at least through opening boosters) it is a fools errand for the budget conscious. I get some reactions as to why I am even buying if thats the way I feel. I actually give WOTC a lot of credit, I rarely think a set is pure toilet paper BUT BFZ comes really really close. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and still purchase, but that will change if subsequent  sets really follow NWO to a tee and we have worse and worse dumbed/watered down cards. The litmus test is this: Can this card be even fringe playable in Modern? If it cannot, then it is toilet paper. Its sole existence is as limited crud that is really bad for the environment.


Aside from the normal "bulk" purchase, I don't think I am inclined to "whack" packs. At least I will actively try to avoid it :)


I hope anyways lol.


Oh oh why am I here, if I was so annoyed by the exploitative retailers?


Khans of Tarkir boys and girls, Khans of Tarkir.


That is how magic should be done.


That.IS.Magic.



Unfortunately they reverted pretty quickly with FRF then Dragons of Tarkir. Origins was still creative but then the shit hit the roof with Expeditions and BFZ. It was shameful.

But thats another story. I want to talk about why I think KTK (Khans of Tarkir) was everything right about Magic. (technically FRF and DTK were still oki, I was being a little harsh). But that will be for another post.


I think I will end my rant now. :)

Halloween 2012 Mousehunt !!! is here.

well yeah I entered it late =P



Obviously, by now you know everything. I get that. =)


But a blog being a blog I might as well write down my thoughts and any tips I might have..... that you don't already know =P



Anyways. This year its pretty straight forward. Run through the 3 sections,


1) The Corn Maze 10 catches each of treating and treating (total 20 catches)
2) The Haunted Manor 20 catches each of treating and treating (total 40 catches)
3) The Pumpkin Patch 50 catches each of treating and treating (total 100 catches)

The big pumpkin face at the end? Thats the big bad.

The UNO numero.


The one.






*and only*








Whatever mouse that is the big bad.








Bad.





Big.






Bad.




Where was I?




Oh yeah its the Swamp Thang this year =P I do actually suspect this year's Halloween is a little more run of mill (slightly less thought out but by no means shabby mind you). And I suspect the devs have been busy and the even is more a run up to the actual meat.




*the living garden*



*shush now*







Anyways thats my guess. What with the Swamp Thing, and the minor hoo ha by the vocal minority in the forums caused by the devs pushing back the release(of the gardens) a little =P which I thought was the right thing to do as one or the other will overshadow the other and render the effort ineffectual.

So thats it, nothing terribly rocket sciency.

Finish the runs get the trap and if it tickles your fancy, go finish the scraps for the Halloween theme (it appears that  the Halloween theme will be a permanent fixture - according to most recent FF)


Oh I did forget to mention, the last two slightly bigger squares are the trick and treat mice =)


-----------------------------------------


Cheese Usage and Collecting Cheese
--------------------------------------

Cheese:
Ghoulgonzola to trick
Candy Corn to treat

The important thing is to NOT leave your cheese lying and not paying attention.

For example:

1) You are in the Corn Maze. You arm Ghoulgonzola. After ten hunts, you will still catch mice but you will no longer progress, you will need to arm candy corn, only when you have BOTH treat and tricked ten times, would you progress to the Haunted Manor, ditto for the progress from Manor to Pumpkin Patch and from Pumpkin patch to ze Biged Baded



*ahem, that 1) looks really redundant but whatever*

so heres  2)



2) Another important thing is to visit friends, luckily visiting is just clicking the link, you can visit and get tricked or treated up to 10 times =)  REMEMBER to lick *ahem* sorry click any and all CANDYs you see. You actually do get to claim a candy. A virtual one of course. *what were you thinking???* You may also see cobwebs? Click those. Cobwebs can be exchanged for more stuff too.



To buy/exchange stuff, go to the shop while you are in the haunted terrortories =)



Hunting (Setup)
--------
Any trap will do, but I hear, the Soul harvester is still KING untill you get the new trap =)



What to buy?
---------------

Well most of the stuff is not really useful and economical, but free is free =)

So if you do not need:

Crates or T3 potions

then anything else is really up to your fancy =) Not particularly useful but is a free boost in any case.


Collectibles
--------------
The Spooky Mask and the Candy Apple, if you hunt long enough you probably will get those =)





Bronzing the Swamp Thang!!!!
---------------------------------
Do note that the Swamp Thang will only be around for the events, so if you are into bronzing mice, this is YOUR TIME! YOUR MOMENT!!!!!!!! *falls off pedestal*





The Trap!
-----------



Nada I haven't gotz it yet, mabbe later today. But apparently it is the soul harvester + 200 power and + 1 luck. Not exactly superb, but considering you do not need to jump through hoops this year, young padawan, you got a steal starin' at you ma man. If you are a vet. AND you think the trap is oh so useless. Well to be honest you will be unhappy most of the time with most events and actually even releases. Chill out dude/dudette, why so serious? ;) Its Halloween, enjoy the holidays =)



As usual I will just update as I plod along.


Oh by the way I was late because I join a map and I was hunting down the Iceburg mice, the last one was a Zealot. When the event started, I was sub 1000 hunts. I thought it will be bad form to keep strangers waiting though so I sloughed on(if one could define clicking as sloughing *cough*). In the end I was only a day plus off. Not too bad I guess =)


Happy Hunting ppl!



[121022 23:46]

So this is my current setup and oh yeah, I gotz the trap =)

I bought the spooky charm in case you are wondering. So piece of advice? Save your spookies for when you get a map. =/ I learnt it the hard way, used up most of mine rather randomly.

Why do you need spookies for the map? Well for some of the "tougher" mice, they only show with the spookies armed.

Now I think it is perfectly possible to catch the map mice in the normal areas.... but its halloween =P besides, hunting in the normal areas do not add to the progress. I might have to eat my words and hunt in the normal areas though if the spookies are too little.

The Map! What map you say? I dropped with the Swamp Thang. I'm not sure if its a hundred percent drop, but mine came with dust for dusting. =)


Thats all for now I guess. =)


Note that the Trap is L.E. =D


[121022 23:46]



*sighz*

I did not get the skins....  but I did get the scrap for the Halloween theme you need to craft it I believe

The dialogue

And the theme itself =)

[121023 22:27]

Well now. After completing my second run with a second 'Thang, I can confirm the map drop is not 100 percent =P

Ah well.


Other things to note:

1) Springer Skin - currently you can get it off the market, but its perma-content from chests even after event

2) Witches' Brew Skin?- I have nothing on that, apparently the market feels the same lol

Other than the two skins, the other skins can be bought off the market or exchanged for using cob webs.

3) The event ends on 5th November !!! So get Spookied!!!

4) How to get Scraps?
      - Scrap 1 is from the Swamp Thang,
      - Scrap 2 is from the halloween chest
         (the halloween chest is in turn from a scroll drop from the Swamp Thang),
      - Scrap 3 is from the general store for cob webs (I think 5)

[121025 06:56]

Interesting.


I just got a Witch's Brew Skin =D

The moment:

And the trap with the skin on.

[121027 22:12]


Halloween has been EXTENDED to 9th November!!!


And a new base is coming!!!!!click here



Also I have recently decided what I will be getting with the candies!!

Being that my team is going for the Tribal Tourneys, the Dreaded Charms will be a good buy! Currently the only way to get the charms are through the Champions Tokens 12 Tokens for 7 charms. Hence 3 candies for 1 charm is a pretty good deal I feel (especially for me where tokens are really tough to get)



[121103 20:44]