WOTC announces smaller sets, new "mythic rare" rarity level

[Velorath]

Details here.

Wizards of the Coast has announced a sweeping redesign of its Magic: The Gathering products beginning with its Shards of Alara block, which premieres this fall.  The changes include the size of sets, the rarity scheme, the composition of boosters and Fat Packs, Intro Packs instead of Theme Decks, and the associated publishing schedule.   
 
Set sizes are being substantially reduced, both for the first, larger release in a new block, and for subsequent expansions.  The Shards of Alara release will include 249 cards, the second set in the block, codename “Paper,” will include 145 cards, and the third set, codename “Scissors,” will also include 145 cards.  There will be over 100 fewer cards in a year’s worth of Magic releases than for any previous year.  The goals of the reduction are to make it easier for new players to get into Magic, and to make it easier for existing players to keep up.

The rarity scheme is also changing.  For Shards of Alara, the set will include 15 mythic rare cards, a new level of rarity, which will appear in one out of every eight booster packs instead of a rare.  The set will also include 53 rares, 60 uncommons, 101 commons, and 20 basic land cards.  The “Paper” and “Scissors” sets will each include 10 mythic rares, 35 rares, 40 uncommons, and 60 commons.  A full parallel foil set will be available, with premium foil versions of mythic rare cards distributed inside booster packs in the same manner as existing foils are. 

Boosters will now include a basic land card, making the expected composition of a booster pack one rare, three uncommons, ten commons, one basic land and one tip card or token (with a mythic rare card instead of a rare card in roughly one out of eight packs). 

Five different Intro Packs will be released with each set, all at $12.29 MSRP, the same as Theme Decks.  The decks in Intro Packs will have fewer cards, 41 instead of 61 in a Theme Deck; and a Booster Pack will be included in each Intro Pack, bringing the total number of cards to 56.  These changes add up to an extra foil rare and three fewer uncommons, two fewer commons, and no premium land card vs. the Theme Decks.  Each Intro Pack will also include a set-specific insert explaining the mechanics and the pre-constructed decks, and a learn-to-play insert for new players. 

The publishing plan will include a Planeswalker’s Guide, with full color illos and an in-depth review of the showcased plane.  Planeswalker’s Guide to Alara will street on September 2nd.  In the winter, a Planeswalker Novel will be released; and in the spring, a block novel, replacing the current cycle of books that tells the story behind the TCG sets.  Another Planeswalker Novel will be released in the summer. 

Fat Packs will continue to include eight booster packs, and will now include an excerpt from the most current publishing offering instead of the set-based novels that used to be included. 

[Margalis]

Fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail.

[Aez]

Wow. Fail picture are failling me, can't even find one worthy enough of the failure.

[Margalis]

Releasing too many cards is a problem. But one way to deal with that is not do stupid shit like the standalone Ice Age expansion.

Cutting down number of cards or spacing out releases both make some sense. But either way Wizards loses money. So the solution? Fewer cards but people spend the same amount to chase the mythic rares. In customer terms, pay more for less.

[Thrawn]

My 2 cents...

Mythic rares - meh, not a very big change.  Won't effect stuff near as much as people are crying.

Smaller sets - needed change, standard is HUGE right now

Land replacing a common in boosters - stupid and pointless

Fat packs - no point at all to buying them now

Intro packs vs Theme decks - not a terrible idea but done badly, if someone walks into a store and wants to play but has no cards sell them a theme deck and they are good to go, sell them an intro pack and they don't even have a tournament legal 60 card deck.

[Johny Cee]

Meh?  Why is this such a fail?

Some number crunching from MTGsalvation:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=116497


In really good news,  Core sets are dropping the whole learner set bit,  and being seen as the avenue for staples/utility cards to be introduced.

[eldaec]

It's a fail in constructed because wotc will make mythics the power staple cards. They've been tacking steadily toward rarity=power over the last few blocks. This is an obvious tool to help emphasise that approach further.


It's a fail in limited because mythics will be stupid shit like planeswalkers, which are no fun in limited.


The problem here is not the existence of mythics, it's that this smells like a tool to support the most depressing aspects of recent design philosophy.

[Margalis]

It also shows that a mythic rare in a small set will only be around 30-60% less common than a normal rare from current small sets, meaning that even if Tarmogoyf would be a mythic rare (which it wouldn't), it should only cost 30-60% more, not twice as much.

That's why it's fail.

Think of it this way: in order to get a playset of Mythic Rares, you have to buy more packs than before. Not only that but because there are a smaller number of cards per set you'll end up with many more duplicates.

So to get the 15 Mythic Rares you'll end up with 200 Giant Growths.

Fewer total unique cards but to get them all you have to spend more than before.

[Thrawn]

It's a fail in constructed because wotc will make mythics the power staple cards. They've been tacking steadily toward rarity=power over the last few blocks. This is an obvious tool to help emphasise that approach further.

Actually Mythic rares will be flavor cards like plainswalkers and legendary creatures.  They already stated they would not print any dual lands or any staple power cards at mythic rare.  So cards like Mutavault, Bitterblossom, Thoughtseize and Tarmogoyf all would of probably not been mythic rarity.

[eldaec]

They've said that.

I don't trust them.

Espeicially as they have openly stated that they want to see omgbbqDRAGON cards becoming more popular in tournaments than Mystical Teachings et al.

[Margalis]

They will make the Mythic Rares powerful because they have to for business reasons. If they suck and there is no point to hunt for them then people buy less product and they lose money.

The whole point of Mythic Rares is to introduce a way to make the same money off less product. It's not a design innovation, it's a financial one.

Think Willy Wonka and the golden tickets.

[Johny Cee]

So then,  we're agreed.  The idea isn't bad,  it's how the idea is implemented.

If the mythic rares are all chase cards,  then sure it is a worse situation.  They've stated that the utility/enabler cards will stay at regular rare,  which is great.  I don't want a repeat of Rav block,  where the mana base was more expensive than most other cards in the deck.

The mythic cards will be desirable, but that won't be a problem if they make sure to balance out what sort of cards they put at that rarity:  divide it up between aggro, control, and combo as well as Spike, Johnny, and Timmy cards. 

Cards like Akroma, Meloku, Teferi, and Garruck are pretty good fits at mythic rarity.  They'll be chased,  but aren't widely considered 4 ofs in various deck types.  Many times Akroma has gone for $15 or $20 and she doesn't even have a deck to go in.

The Timespiral "bling" dragons are perfect slot ins at mythic rarity:  playable, efficient,  the WOW factor of dragons, but you can swap them out for another finisher easily.

Lands and cards like Mutavault,  which can be slotted anywhere, are the problem.

[Thrawn]

From the Mark Rosewater article on the changes -

We've also decided that there are certain things we specifically do not want to be mythic rares. The largest category is utility cards, what I'll define as cards that fill a universal function. Some examples of this category would be cycles of dual lands and cards like Mutavault or Char. That also addresses a long-standing issue that some players have had with certain rares like dual lands. Because we're making fewer cards per set, in the new world individual rares will be easier to acquire because each rare in a large set now appears 25% more often.

[Margalis]

I can't tell if we agree or not.

To get a full set you have to spend more money, and for the money you get more repeats and lower card diversity.

[Raging Turtle]

Bizarre and unnecessary.

This is not the best way to lure me back after the current MTGO fiasco.

[eldaec]

Also, for what it is worth this reduces the maximum number of cards that can be redeemed from mtgo.

In a set like 10th, you can redeem up to 20% of the cards sold.

In the described future state, this drops to a bit under 15%.

[naum]

MtG is so dead to me…