7th Edition is a Marketing Ploy

  • Thread starter Thallid Ice Cream Man
  • Start date
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Thallid Ice Cream Man

Guest
I am convinced of the title statement - so much so, in fact, that I intend to write an article discussing this soon.* I wanted to post advance notice of this, in case someone wants to persuade me not to, or to give me links in the right direction.

*Keep in mind that I do not know when "soon" is, and I won't know until the actual time. Don't send me e-mails telling me to finish up, as that would only slow me down.
 
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Sammy Dead-O

Guest
I mean, obviously WotC wants us to buy whatever product they offer. Do you mean that they're using arguably silly stuff like foil versions of old staples to get us to buy more than we usually would of a base set? (Because it's a pretty fun marketing ploy...)
 
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TeamRegime.com

Guest
Thats all you have to do. Don't buy the cards.
Sure 7th ed. has all the bells and whistles..but at least
they're still making cards. Write WOTC/Hasbro a letter...write your article..and let me know when your done..and if you would like to post it besides and or here...try my site...

NK
 
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Daggertooth

Guest
Now isn't the point for magic cards for WOTC to make money? In that case everything they do is a Marketing play. you'll have to be a bit more specific.


Daggertooth
 
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BurlyBrute

Guest
Some marketing ploy, they might have sold some packs to an old geezer like me, had it been black-bordered.
 
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Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I've always thought the basic sets were marketing ploys, in that it's trying to appeal to those players who weren't around during the original release of the cards. If you've been around, you already should have them.

Heck, when you look at it, Magic as a whole is a marketing ploy: BUY MORE CARDS! :)
 
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FoundationOfRancor

Guest
I think he means that this is an espcially big marketing ploy.
 
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Gizmo

Guest
What can you say?

"I think 7th Edition has been designed to make people buy cards. The alternative artwork is just trying to con money out of collectors and people who like the new artwork. The addition of Foil cards will also encourage people to buy cards that they already have, just to get Foil versions."

Yes, all true. But how else is WotC going to get people who aren`t beginners or messed up on drugs to buy a new basic set release. It just makes sense. Nobody is forcing anybody to buy anything so you can`t blame WotC for doing anything to abuse it`s monopoly on Magic card production (it`s not saying only 7th Edition copies of the cards from the basic set will be legal, or anything like that).

Yes, Wizards are guilty of adding new tweaks and features to an older model in order to sell more copies.

Gee, I`m shocked. Welcome to capitalism.
 
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Thallid Ice Cream Man

Guest
I meant that 7th Edition is made special by all the foil cards and fancy-shmancy new art and rerelease of old fat creatures in an attempt to make up for the fact that it sucks worse than most sets, and that they know it. The only person they have quoted is a MARKETING director, for god's sake. At least Bill Rose, someone supposed to be affiliated with Magic, wrote that stupid letter when 6th came out... now they have a MARKETING director talking, someone who was probably hired through Hasbro anyway...

I'm not suddenly, for the first time ever, appalled, as though this were the first time I had seen evidence of WotC's/Hasbro's/our country's apathy towards the meaning of Magic/anything, namely the one deeper than money. I was just angry when I posted that, and without yelling at anyone, I vented my rage that the company which provides/provided us with the game we play and love could become involved in the endless search for the pot o' gold behind the gold foil rainbow, and forget everything else....

However, I had intended to awaken people who might not have otherwise realized the stunt [Not swearing there took an awful lot of self-restraint] these suits are trying to pull to the fact that WotC, Hasbro, and all of this country's big businesses are concerned with making a killing (figuratively or literally, take your pick). Thinking back on it, I have no idea what I would have told these people to do, as they probably wouldn't have boycotted 7th or something...

I was just letting off steam. I won't write any such article. (Of course, I'm still glad FoR realized I wasn't just being really really really stupid.) The main reason is not, however, that I could not have supported it well enough, but that I believe the people of the CPA represent and state this idea well enough that an admittedly less-than-perfect attempt to yell about it would seem redundant. It would seem that you would agree with this.

However, we should remember that WotC has not improved its set of values to the extent that we would hope since this whole site was started. It is no better than the company that screwed up Waylay 2 years ago. Keep that in mind.
 
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ErinPuff

Guest
Yes, 7th is a big marketing ploy, but I'm so brainwashed by the evils of WotC that I bought some yesterday.. bleah.. one of my rares was a Vizzerdrix, how wonderful.. :p and the flavor text is really the worst I've ever seen.. but because I'm brainwashed, I'm actually gonna buy more.. :eek:
 
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Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Sorry, pretty much disagree with almost everything you said.

Foils? Been there since Urza Block... that was the time to complain, when they first appeared. Now they're standard. Nothing new.

New art? Been doing that for a while... you could go back and complain about how Fallen Empires and Homelands used FOUR sets of art for the same common card! What a marketing ploy THAT was :rolleyes:

Old fat creatures? I sure hope you weren't one of those complaining that Shivan and Serra didn't make it into 6th...

"Screwed up Waylay"? Please.... let's reach back into the distant past and examine how they "screwed" up Rukh Egg since they didn't use the "right" wording and people were "smart" enough :rolleyes: to take it literally. It was all due to the rules changeover and they fixed it (not to the best solution to everyone's mind, but hey...)

I think WOTC is either better now than two years ago or they're doing a great job with spin control. I think it's the former.

Here's a challenge for you: Design your OWN 7th edition with the current reprint policy and make sure it's balanced for casual and tourney play (Sealed, draft, Type 1, Type 1.5, Extended, Standard, etc). If you don't like the reprint policy, design one without it also (but we're obviously interested in the former for comparison purposes). Post it and let the members here look at it and either praise or critique it (or both).

Maybe THAT should be an article. Oh, and thanks for not swearing :)
 
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Gizmo

Guest
And I think 7th Edition is actually pretty good, for a basic set.
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
7th Edition IS a marketing ploy, it's the same idea that the folks at Tommy Hilfiger are doing, it's the same as U2 the rock group is doing, it's the same as anything you buy is doing!
I never thought there was any "Noble" cause with Wiz Co.'s products (a sense of For The Players/By The Players, if you will), it has ALWAYS been about money and THAT'S IT! Now, quality control, THAT'S a different story.
I think Wiz Co. has done a fine job (overall) of keeping things balanced. However, if I'm not happy about a card not being reprinted (like Tradewind Rider) then I just play in a tournament that DOES have the card I want to play with as a tourney legal card (like Extended for Tradewind Rider).
I used to think that only Type II mattered, then I had a paradigm shift (Paradigm: 2. A pattern:Model), and then everything was A-Okay!
As far as foils go, I remember when "Pop-Tarts" were made without frosting (circa 1970), you could only buy the plain kind because no one had thought of the frosting thing yet, sales were dropping and then I'm sure some young whipper-snapper said, "Hey! What if we put frosting (foils) on the pastries (in 7th. Ed.)?" Boom! Sales went up and "Pop-Tarts are still here today.
You know what? I could careless about foils, but I'm still going to buy 7th. Edition, why? Beacause I like playing the game of Magic. If someone else doesn't like 7E, then they don't HAVE to buy it.
Let's all lighten up about 7E, in the context of a discussion about 7E and the effects it will have on the standard environment, then "yes", B**** all you want. Otherwise, stop making it a JFK case and realize that "Business is Business".
 
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fuzzy510

Guest
What is U2 doing YJ? Don't diss U2!!!!!!!!!!!

Anywho, I think that TICM is overreacting. If you think that 7th Edition is a waste of time and money, here's a simple solution: don't buy it. Let some other fool that has the time or money to buy hundreds of packs to pull a foil rare, even if it's a Vizzerdrix. Sure, 7th may be a marketing ploy, but if you're not buying into it, why should you care?
 
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Cateran Emperor

Guest
No, not the card pool in this case. It is an upgrade in that department, but that's not what has my interest here.

The flavor of 7th is much more like the Magic I remember. Knights, Elves, Merfolk, Goblins, and the like are in the art. Not weird Phyrexian thingies (a handful of those still, but at least its better than the expansions), but genuine fantasy feel to the cards.

I'm remarkably pleased with the art in general with this set. This has the best Dienchant art ever, Ostracize is better (although that didn't take much work), Counterspell is good, Llanowar Elves are good, heck, even Merfolk of the Pearl Trident are looking good!

The flavor text is another strong point here. It's a lot more spirited than what the expansions were getting us (Almost nothing from Gerrard or Urza!), and it just sounds cooler what with the Paladins warring and the Merfolk and Elves sitting on the sidelines here.

I'm actually, for the first time in an insane period of time, going to go back to our trading forum to try to pick up some 7th foils.

Guess I'm brainwashed then. Welcome to capitalism indeed, I know I'm enjoying it. ;)
 
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Zadok001

Guest
Off Topic!

I have to say, the art for Counterspell pisses me off. Explain to me how that is a Counterspell of ANY kind?
 
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