Modern Masters: Meeting Expectations

Earlier this week, we looked into the impetus behind the creation of Modern Masters, digging into the reasons for its necessity as well as the reasons behinds Wizard’s desire to be cautious with this endeavor. Today, we see if Modern Masters achieves its principle three goals. To recap, they are:

1. Being a fully draftable set.
2. Putting more cards into circulation to help address rising costs of the more sought after cards in the Modern tournament format.
3. Allowing casual players access to powerful and popular cards that they may have missed the first time around

#1. Drafting

Question: Is Modern Masters a functional draft set?

Verdict: YES

Modern Masters is a 229 card set that breaks down along the typical lines: it contains 101 commons, 60 uncommons, 53 rares, and 15 mythic rares, all in normal 15 card booster packs. They do have some slight alterations, however. Some rarities were adjusted up or down as needed, and the basic land slot was replaced with a foil slot. More importantly, these boxes only contain 24 boosters, instead of the normal 36. We’ll get to the price part a bit later, but 24 boosters means it is ideal to be drafted with eight people. That’s what we set out to do.

From the first pack that was passed around, one thing was abundantly clear: this was not your general Magic set. Unlike normal sets that have obvious themes and patterns that they promote – sometimes going so far as to spoon feed us strategies –  Modern Masters is much more nuanced. For new players, finding a deck idea that works could be a little intimidating. In our case, all eight players were experienced Magic veterans, but even then it still took a few turns to parse out some kind of strategy. However, things became more evident as the picks went along.

When the decks were completed and the matches started, we had eight very different deck styles:

• A Black / Green token deck, boosted by Doubling Season
• A Blue / Green / White Naya draw deck
• An aggressive White Weenie deck, toting lots of removal and several Kitchen Finks
• A Blue / Red Suspend deck, hallmarked by Jhoira of the Ghitu
• A Black / Blue faerie deck with an artifact subtheme for its pretty Sword of Fire and Ice
• A Black / Red deck based around spot removal and direct damage spells
• A Black / Red Goblin aggro deck
• A Blue / White deck touting Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and flyers, with both flicker and artifact subthemes.

The decks ended up showcasing the wonderful cross-section of the sets Modern Masters included. From the artifact-happy Mirrodin to Lorwyn tribals to Time Spiral wackiness, you genuinely felt like there were a lot of themes on display. While the reaction was overwhelmingly positive in that regard, one of the repeated remarks was that there were so many good options to choose from that it initially made choices difficult – which is usually a good problem to have. There was also a definitive sense of nostalgia in the air as players got to see cards again that they either missed out on the first time or were appreciative to see in use once more. It was apparent from the start that this was no core set.

How did the decks fare? Feel free to click below to look at quick breakdown if you’re curious, or you may continue on to our summary of the draft itself.

In the end, the premise of drafting Modern Masters appears to have played out just as the designers had hoped. With a lot of variety across six years worth of sets, Modern Masters distilled the essence out of each block into something that is both a tribute to the sets it came from while still presenting something new. It may not be the best draft for new players, but for people who have played a game or thousand, it was well received.

As an interesting side note: none of us are Constructed players. While we have knowledge of Standard, Legacy and the like, the overwhelming majority of our Magic tenure is spent in multiplayer casual games, Commander, or drafting itself. Still, it is very hard to avoid noticing that there are plenty of very tourney-friendly cards in Modern Masters. (That is part of its intent after all). In this, all play styles should be happy with what they find.

Next: The Modern Price Problem

#2. Addressing Costs

Question: Does it address rising costs of cards in the Modern tournament format?

Verdict: NO

One  of the glaring things that occurred before the set ever came to market was the dissemination of three words: conservative print run. This means that it would not be the same size printing as a normal set. Of course, this set off a firestorm of concern because the last time they attempted to market a product for a specific group of people, it went very poorly.

Less than a year earlier, in fall of 2012, Wizards released a specialty product designed for the casual format, Commander. It contained a shiny foily set of 18 cards. Eighteen. Yet the MSRP was $75, which was already higher than what most people were hoping it would go for. Wizards intended it to be sold as a sort of “From The Vaults: Commander” promo set, but their continual promotion of it, and the incredible rise in the Commander style, led people to believe that it would be a readily available thing.

It wasn’t.

From The Vaults product are designed to be more for collectors and stores than for players writ large, hence their higher price tags, emphasis on tangential things like the packing, and hard-to-get circulation. Just like FTV product, the end result was that Commander’s Arsenal was limited to local stores only, and each would only get a small number of them. It was not uncommon to see the sets go for $200 or used as prizes in store events. In short, Wizards screwed up. They apologized, we grumbled, and everyone moved on.

With Modern Masters, they hoped to avoid the same issue. They acknowledged that the print run would be much higher than Commander’s Arsenal, but not as much as a normal set. They attested that it was because they want it to still feel special, but the reality is they limited prints because Modern Masters is a giant gamble. Remember the Chronicles thing? They sure do. And they weren’t looking to repeat that either.

They probably should have.

At least, they should have printed quite a bit more if they wanted to actually solve the cost issue. It’s simple economics.

Unfortunately, Wizards of the Coast has a bit of a split personality on the secondary market. They claim they don’t take it into account when making decisions, but we all know they do. While they don’t have direct control over setting the price of cards, this is an occasion where they can be influential enough to alter them. That they seemingly opted not to appears to justify that initial player concern.

Their goal here, after all, is to try to make Modern staple cards more affordable, but if they don’t print appropriate quantities to affect the market, then their efforts are largely wasted.

Why? Say the average market rate on a Tarmogoyf is $100, but you can’t get one for that price because it’s sold out. There are places you can get it for $125, but that’s not a great option. Your choice is essentially to not get it, or pay the higher price. If enough people cave to the higher price, then the average market rate rises, and the $100 option disappears entirely; $125 is the new normal. Supply and demand at work.

The inverse is also true – the only way to substantially drop a price is to get enough supply out there that places are willing to compete with one another by undercutting prices. (Now, we’re going on the theoretical assumption of fair market here and saving the argument that places like StarCity – intentionally or not – cause artificial prices due to various tactics. That’s another topic for another day.)

The limited print run is not going to produce enough of these desired cards to substantially drop the average in the long term. Instead, it’s mostly just going to stave off card inflation for awhile. If Wizards thinks that watching Vendilion Clique‘s average cost drop $5 is them being successful, well, the Magic community would like to have a talk with you.

Players don’t want a $100 Tarmogoyf, and getting it down to $90 isn’t a victory if they are serious about keeping Modern viable. Get it down to $40-50 and people will start praising Wizards for their efforts. But you’ll need a lot more copies in print to do that.

And it’s not like Wizards is above taking the wind out of inflated card prices at times. Let’s look at a perfect recent example: Mutavault

Mutavault Prices

This is a price tracker visual from Black Lotus Project, which compiles the average rate of cards sold on Ebay – a.k.a. what I feel is the best representation of a card’s market values since that’s what people are willing to pay without markup. (That said, BLP should not be relied on 100%, especially for non-rares, but it’s useful to see what certain cards are trending at.)

From what it shows, just the announcement that it’ll be in the Magic 2014 core set has caused Mutavault’s average selling price to drop ten dollars. That’s how you address cost correctly.

Maybe they want market data before attempting something of this nature again, or maybe they think that collectors, retailers and hoarders wouldn’t corner the market on a limited supply item to make a bigger buck (because capitalism is so benevolent). Whatever the case, the lower print run and higher cost to purchase will not help the Modern tournament players in the long run. All it will do is stay the bleeding for awhile.

Back to Drafting or Onward to The Casual Effect

#3. Appealing to The Casuals

Question: Does Modern Masters allow more casual players access to powerful and/or missed cards?

Verdict: MIXED

The reason we say it’s mixed once again goes back to a matter of cost and availability. Let’s start with the cost aspect.

First, it’s good to remember that the majority of Magic players are casual players. We are the ones who don’t play in Constructed tournament formats, often don’t play one-on-one, and our decks don’t necessarily adhere to the scripture of structured format requirements such as lots of playsets and a sixty card deck. Plenty of casual players do, but the point is that it’s more the exception than the rule.

There’s a misnomer out there, however, that casual players won’t spend money. There are plenty of us kitchen table contingent that would rather have $40 of product from the bulk rare pile than one $40 card, but we’re still spending $40. Moreover, casual players buy preconstructed theme decks, the Fat Packs, Planechase sets, etc.

They also buy random booster packs. And with Modern Masters, packs are the closest a casual player will get to it.

With such limited stock, if places are even selling boxes directly, they’re asking between $250 and $300 (on average) – for boxes 33% smaller than normal. That’s somewhere between 50 and 80 percent above MSRP. Stores, just like promotional products, have been much more likely instead to do draft events with them. That, or they’re selling packs individually, priced averaging close to $12 each (about 75% above MSRP). Premiums on specialty product are one thing, but if Wizards intends for the everyman to consider Modern Masters, it has to at least seem affordable.

Many of our draft players were unable or unwilling to spend $30+ on a draft, potential goodies aside, because it simply wasn’t worth to them. The only reason we were able to do our draft review at all was because the good folks at Merrymac Games in Merrimack, NH are bucking that trend somewhat – their packs were going for under $10 apiece. Sure enough, I watched several customers make the decision to pick up a few packs, in part because they liked the idea that the packs – while still a luxury purchase – was deemed to be just inside their acceptable purchase range. People willing to drop $30-40 for a draft are not the average Magic player.

That’s the area that most casual players don’t want to contend with: being priced out on dollar amount alone. Unlike Modern tournament players where the issue is paying too much for cards they need to be competitive, casual players usually just balk at the cost because it’s expensive for what you’re getting. If Dark Confidant is there for $55, and Dark Tutelage is there for 50 cents, there is no contest in which we’re grabbing. It’s not to say that casuals don’t like to get the latest and greatest toys as much as the next person, but it’s only up to a certain point – which is often a much lower threshold than your average tournament player or collector. Essentially, whereas a tournament player desires affordability in cards because of the need for them, a casual player desires affordability because of the want for them. And wants are a lot easier to walk away from.

If Modern Masters is available at reasonable rates, casual players will buy it. They’ll enjoy doing so for what they may find inside, be it awesome cards or merely nostalgia. If, however, the issues of scarcity cause prices to be too high, they’ll opt for what they deem better use of their money.

Final Thoughts

Modern Masters largely achieves two out of its three main goals. The set is fantastic to draft with, and we highly recommend it if the price is worth it to you. Whether it’s the nostalgia factor for seeing old cards again in a pack, or being able to experience them anew, it’s quite rewarding.

Similarly, if you are a casual gamer and local game store has packs for justifiable rates (remember, the MSRP on them is $6.99), then consider splurging a little. Not everything is a money card, but there are very few rares in Modern Masters that one would be disappointed to open.

Unfortunately, the one area that Modern Masters fails in was its primary purpose: bringing down prices for Modern players.

It’ll stem the tide for now, but it will not ease the barrier to entry or the burden to the existing player base for long. Eventually, the prices of these sought-after cards will start climbing again as they’re snatched up by players, collectors, or institutions that like to keep prices high to protect their inventory.

Modern Masters appears to be highly under-printed, and it inevitably won’t be enough to curtail price issues. It appears that, for fear of the past, or fear of the present, Wizards went much more conservative with the set than they should have. Only time will tell if there was any lasting impact to prices at all, but we won’t get our hopes up. 

Do you have thoughts on Modern Masters? You can discuss this article over on our forums, or contact Ryan at ryan@cardboardrepublic.com!

Photo Credits: Webcomic by Cardboard Crack.