Does anyone even buy the basic sets anymore

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TheCasualOblivion

Guest
Does anyone really buy 8th edition anymore.

I've bought a couple of packs and got nothing but trash. I've looked at a few tournaement decks at the local gaming store, and decks seem to be 80-90% expansion cards at the very least. Do these sets even matter at all anymore?
 
J

jorael

Guest
8th edition? Isn't that for starters? I never buy packs of the basic sets, I'm way past starting.... :)
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, the basic set is reprints from past expansions. If you missed out on those, you might buy the basic set but if you kept up when the expansion first came out, there's really no need to buy it (unless you want alternate artwork and don't want to trade for it and want to gamble).

But in terms of tourney decks, the basic set is also a "conglomerate" of cards from the past expansion that would ease beginners into play and kinda lose their "synergy" (if they had it) with the other cards that would have been in the original expansion. The 10-20% cards you might see from the basic set may be the "old stand-by's" like Birds of Paradise (are they still in?) or something; cards from sets WAY long ago.
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
BoP will be out of 9th.

The problem lies in the fact that the basic set is basic...it's not sexy like the expansion sets. That, and the power level tends to be a lot lower.
 

Killer Joe

New member
I buy at least one box of a core set just to have access to basic cards like Shock, Mana Leak, Dark Banishing, Holy Day, Grizzly Bear, etc...

I also buy the core set "Pre-Cons". I'm a sucker that way :rolleyes:
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Originally posted by Istanbul
The problem lies in the fact that the basic set is basic...it's not sexy like the expansion sets. That, and the power level tends to be a lot lower.
Exactly. The power level of the Core Set was reduced to accomodate beginners. The loss of cool effects, trample, "confusing crap" and all that means it goes to the expansions. What's left is a very vanilla, beginner-friendly set.

To top this off, the base set always has white borders. Even if you can gamble for foil versions of a few hot cards, why the hell even bother? They have white borders! (personally, I sometimes color them in red or blue or even black. Some of those new artworks look pretty nice in black border non-foil).

With two huge strikes against it (white borders and lack of high power cards) you end up with garbage that isn't worth buying.

Hopefully 9e will rectify this problem. It seems WotC is hinting at the fact they would like to. Let us hope...
 

Killer Joe

New member
Why do white borders bother you?

Maybe you should present an idea to a card sleeve company like pro-??? and tell them to make sleeves that have a black border on the front clear part of the sleeve.

Maybe. :(
 
N

Notepad

Guest
People dislike white borders because they take away from the visual prettiness of the overall card. The frame and art are rarely complimented by a white border that draws some of the eye's attention away. The black border, on the other hand, does compliment the card nicely. (Though I think the mainstream magic players like black more not for aesthetic reasons, but because "black is cool!!!!11!" and white is for sissies)

To your suggestion--Why waste $5 a pop to case a deck with sme stupid sleeves when I can turn a white-bordered deck any color I want with a little ink from a $2 marker?

Trust me, red borders looks awesome. Especially on black, red and green cards.
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
White Bordered cards? Yuck! I'm trying to think of the last time I actually bought a starter/booster of basic set (digital or paper)..........oh yeah! Back in '99 I picked up three starters of Sixth Edition. I was apalled at finding a "set icon" on a white bordered card (that wasn't Chronicles) and even more shocked when I saw that Goblin Warrens was a RARE???? I remember trading my head off to get four of those from Fallen Empires and here I am stuck w/ something that will never see the inside of a deck. Needless to say I stopped after that.

If you buy enough of the older sets you really don't need to buy core sets. If you really want some of those reprints you can probably trade for them - mostly because their values plummet after they're put back on the market...

-Ferret

"Syphon Soul? You want HOW MUCH for them?"
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Ferret, everything from Legends and before had overexaggerated prices. Gladly, things aren't that way anymore. I'd hate to have to pay two bucks just because I need a simple common from Stronghold.

(Wait, those pukes at SCG charge bucks for sliver commons...BLEGH)
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Heh, maybe he traded before everyone realized the overproduction problem of FE. In the beginning of its release, it was just as highly sought after as the expansions before it, but once people realized that there was way too much of it, he could have traded more cheaply for it. Or gotten packs for .50 as they were in Maryland :)

If he traded hard for them after all of that, then I don't know what went on... maybe Warrens were highly valued in his area :)
 

Killer Joe

New member
I like drafting "Core Sets". They're well balanced and there aren't that many 'bombs' in the set.

There is ONE thing that bothers me about 'core sets', when they reprint a card from an expansion set, they shouldn't choose a card that represents a block-theme and/or mechanic from it like Rewind.

I still would like to see "Counterspell" come back to standard. Couldn't they just re-make the casting cost to 1UU? AND, still call it Counterspell? I guess not.
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Oh, I remember the FE glut. The only problem was that I got tired of pulling two of the same cards (w/ different artwork) from each pack and getting hundred of dirt commons, so I stopped buying and started trading.

-Ferret

"It allowed me to make a mean Thallid deck!"
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, I think that was around the last time where they did U1, U3, etc. for the rarities (maybe also for Chronicles, but it was still around the same time).

Even if U1 is supposed to be the "rare" slot...
 
O

orgg

Guest
Homelands was, Spidy.

That was the last set with the "U1" 'rares.'
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Homelands and Alliances were the last time. Homelands was horrid, and Alliances got REALLY bad with the R6 and stuff like that. You could get rares more often than certain uncommons. Wtf!?

Yeah...

Glad they finally put an end to that junk. Though, I really do miss the alternate art commons. That was real spiffy, because you had more variety to the mountain of twenty of each common. It felt like different cards, even though they weren't.
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
I remember all those alternate pic cards - I actually would find myself trading commons w/ people just to complete the artwork sets.

The last time I bought a lot of a basic set, I was almost disgusted and got out of Magic. It was around Fifth Edition. Fourth had already gotten rid of many of the cards I liked (either they were too strong or had "questionable" artwork (like Earthbind)). When I found out that even more good cards were being phased out and low-quality replacements were being put in, I thought "Why bother buying cards anymore if they're just going to suck?" Fortunately, Tempest was released around that time and I found it fun again...

-Ferret

"...and don't even get me started about VIth Edition..."
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Originally posted by Ferret
and don't even get me started about VIth Edition...
You mean "Classic"? They had such bombs as Blaze and Wyluli Wolf...

But seriously, they did reprint Vampiric Tutor, which was nice...
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Originally posted by Oversoul
You mean "Classic"? They had such bombs as Blaze and Wyluli Wolf...

But seriously, they did reprint Vampiric Tutor, which was nice...
The only reason they re-printed Vampiric Tutor was too many people were complaining about Demonic Tutor being gone - just like they re-printed "watered down" version of so many of the other great cards. Some of those cards made combo decks insane, but a lot of them were just nice little cards that really didn't harm much. It seems like w/ each basic reprint set they try to undo the damage they did w/ the last set and make Standard format that much more annoying to build decks in. This kind of behaviour practically encourages Casual Play where people don't care what sets your cards are from...

-Ferret

"My plan: track down a box of Homelands and hold a sealed booster tourney!"
 
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