Last week, following our first look at the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy set, early pre-orders for the set went up for sale. The prices of these products were much higher than players expected, leaving some to suspect gouging on the part of online retailers. Turns out the reality is worse than we feared. In a Blogatog post yesterday, MTG Head Designer Mark Rosewater confirmed that these new, more expensive prices will be standard not just for Final Fantasy, but for all Universes Beyond sets going forward.
This is a huge deal, especially for those who got into Standard during the format’s recent renaissance. With half the sets each year being Universes Beyond sets, and those being priced on the same level as premium sets of the past, it’s going to be difficult for many to keep up. Will this controversial move be the straw that breaks the MTG camel’s back?
MTG Standard Will Be More Expensive Soon?!
This unfortunate news came via a Blogatog post yesterday. Responding to a question about Final Fantasy pricing, Mark Rosewater confirmed what many of us suspected and feared.
“errantaxiom: Is an individual Final Fantasy play booster intended to be the same price as Aetherdrift? Sorry for the basic question, but it’s hard to find clear info online.
Mark Rosewater: No, Universes Beyond boosters normally have a higher MSRP.”
Until now, many players were hoping that the high prices on Final Fantasy pre-orders were just a fluke. Perhaps it was just a one-set anomaly due to the popularity of the license. While that wouldn’t have been great, of course, it’s preferable to the reality: that these high prices are going to be the norm going forward, in every UB set after Final Fantasy too.
There is precedent for this in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. In that case, Boosters and other products were sold at higher prices than the Standard sets of the time. The crucial difference here is that Lord of the Rings was a straight-to-Modern set that didn’t impact Standard. It was the equivalent of a Modern Horizons set, and as such players were happy paying Modern Horizons prices for it. The appeal of the license certainly helped too.
The same excuse can’t be applied to Final Fantasy. This will be the first-ever Standard legal Universes Beyond set, which means anyone interested in playing Magic’s flagship format will be unable to ignore it. Even those who have no interest in Final Fantasy as an IP will have to pay the ‘Universes Beyond Tax’ in order to stay relevant in the format.
Given that Standard is a fairly expensive way to play MTG at the best of times, this is a devastating blow. It’s not just dedicated Standard players that need to worry, either. This decision will have a ripple effect that impacts every corner of the community.
Compound Interest
First of all, to stick on Standard for a minute, it’s not just Final Fantasy that will have to bear this new burden. Each year will feature three Standard-legal Universes Beyond sets going forward. This means players will have to pay jumped-up prices to play Magic not just once, but three times a year. The likes of Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender may not be as attractive to scalpers as Final Fantasy, but they’ll still be pricey thanks to those jacked-up MSRPs.
As a result, this change will make Standard much more expensive to play overall. This flies in the face of everything Wizards has been doing, quite successfully might I add, to rebuild the format over the last year. Many who are just properly getting into Standard now will probably drop it when they realize how much it’s going to cost them.
This exodus will have a knock-on effect on other formats. Standard tends to be the gateway into the wider Magic: The Gathering ecosystem. Make it cost the same as the likes of Modern, and that gateway narrows down to a tiny crack. This means fewer new players for all formats, with the possible exception of Commander. Limited players will be affected too. More expensive product means more expensive Draft and Sealed events. This, in turn, means some regular Limited players will be pushed out of the game due to increased costs.
The worst part of all of this? The problem could get worse still in the years to come. Wizards has committed to a 50/50 Universes Beyond/Magic IP split for now, but if things go well the balance could shift in favor of the former.
The Community Speaks
Naturally, the Magic: The Gathering community isn’t best pleased about this. A r/MagicTCG thread discussing Rosewater’s statement has amassed over 600 comments in under 12 hours, the vast majority of which are negative.
“Bullshit to have higher MSRP on a standard legal set (it’s BS for any set, but it’s too late to change reprint sets) Guess we know the real reason for having so many UB set releases now.”
clearly_not_an_alt
This is the kind of comment that would’ve sounded a bit ‘conspiracy theory’ a few years ago but now rings worryingly true. The hugely increased volume of Universes Beyond products is one thing. Bringing it to Standard and still charging premium prices for it is quite another. It’s hard not to feel like Wizards is taking advantage a bit here. Both of the new Standard players they’ve just drawn in and fans of the IPs for each UB set.
“So basically 50% of all future sets will be priced at a premium…for now, as I’m sure they’ll just migrate that price hike to UW sets soon enough because the shareholders demand a yearly sacrifice.”
Cobaltplasma
Many players don’t think Wizards will stop there, either. Just as Universes Beyond was gradually accepted over time, players expect regular Standard sets to come up in price to meet their UB counterparts eventually. This is pure speculation, of course, but the fact that players are thinking it is indicative of the atmosphere of distrust Wizards has created with these decisions.
“Can’t wait til they jack up the power level even higher in those more expensive standard legal sets too”
AzothThorne
Another big concern is the power level of the new UB sets. Wizards has a vested interest in making these sets powerful, due to the licenses involved and now the high costs. Wizards has assured players that these sets won’t push the power envelope too much. Despite this, player concerns are still valid. It’s hard to put much stock in Wizards’ word at this point, after all.
Ultimately, this is a rare case of pure bad news. MTG Standard is getting more expensive, and there’s really nothing we can do about it.
