It's pretty understandable than small indie company WoTC cannot reliably or timely produce and ship paper goods that exclusively belong to preordering customers.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

They keep laying off staff the way they have been and they will be a small company before long

Probably the way back machine might tell us if the authors were erased

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Can't tell if this idea would make for a good movie in the Terminator franchise or not

@vxicepickxv

6 ай бұрын

Proven in the video.

I'm from Estonia and one of our only LGS's already uses the approach that you mentioned. Basically they always order 2-3 Secret Lairs and just sell them for their normal price as normal products. Haven't used the opportunity myself yet but it seems really nice not having to deal with shipping times and product safety. For some reason I thought this was a widely accepted approach lol

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

No it isn't. That's really cool though. Had a few people try to tell me this approach wouldn't work. Nice to know someone is proving it does! Thanks for the comment!

yeah, people were so against SL first couple times around but the moment their favorite slop gets a crossover it's time to turn the coat

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

I'm still not a fan of Negan being in the game personally. Also, why are half the Stranger Things kids higher power and toughness than a bear or trained soldier?

Wizards didn't just ruin it, it was always bad. I agree with that. I would love it if the FOMO fools (some of my friends included) would stop giving in and let secret lair sales drop miserably. Let it fail so that Wizards has to do better.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Weirdly, I think that's what this is. I think this is them trying to do better. But not better by it's players, and instead better by their own income

@tsucube4377

6 ай бұрын

Tldr; they made the boogie bomb do damage The announcement of fortnite cards was what got me back into the game after years (the last set my parents bought was Khan's or botg). I was excited about this for like a year, imagining what it would be. I was wondering how the fortnite side of it would be handled, and wished for an ajani skin. Turns out, there was nothing on the fortnite side, and the magic cards were a few expensive reprints that had been picked with less than a minute on gatherer a piece. Dance battle creates a wierd enchantment clone thing because the original card had dance in the name. The cube was planer bridge instead of the zero point solely becuse the cube is more iconic. The biggest disappointment was the secret card. My best guess was a elixir of immortality chug jug, but it was so terrible that at first i thought it was a joke. Pyrite spellbomb boogie bomb. They made the item that puts players into a TEMPORARY STATE WHERE THEY CANNOT ATTACK OR DEFEND, and have it deal 2 damage to a target instead. I still don't know who it was made for. The cards also aren't available in mgo, the only official way to play magic in an SQUAD OF 4 ONLINE, you know, how a fortnite group works. They aren't even in area either. I have gotten back into magic, but I play untapin and shandalar. Ways that don't give wotc money for their awful decisions lately. ( P.s. the lands were pretty and the right locations, but they were stupid expensive and what am i supposed to do with one of each?)

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

@@tsucube4377 This is an issue with a lot of universes beyond imo. It's hard to line them up one to one. I sort of make a point of that coming in my next video tomorrow. You also raise another good point. Why are these crossovers always one way? The magic lore is cool. Why doesn't WotC seem to care about that? Where are the TV shows, films and game appearances? Why is the cross over always one way? GIVE US A 4000 POINT PHYREXIAN WARHAMMER ARMY YOU COWARDS!

I remember ordering Street Fighter in February didn't get it until my birthday in August. I believe that was my longest wait. I like not waiting for months but I don't like having to have the cash on hand and ready to order when it goes live.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, that's true. Maybe they could announce price further in advance so people would be ready

@CleazyMane-ef2cg

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames I agree.

If their intention was to quicken recieving times (assuming not using lgs) couldnt there be a premade stock that is "until sales run out" and then any excess purchases would be print to demand?

@fropps1

6 ай бұрын

Yeah that would be a sensible solution, but as they admit to in their earlier post having a limited run of cards is a ratcheting up of fomo and speculation, and the logic is that THAT drives more sales than a more forgiving distribution process would.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Pretty much exactly what I was about to type in response. They say it's for delivery times, but it's not. They're clearly hoping to drive up the price of cards on the secondary market

They use to list authors but stoped.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

I wonder why. I hope it's not AI

@vxicepickxv

6 ай бұрын

​@@RedBobcatGamescan't look to snatch away talent if you have no idea who the talent is.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Ha! A sad thought but probably true

@gatesofnocturne3700

6 ай бұрын

I think some people may have crossed a line when a particularly controversial article went up and the author was displayed, made them easy to harass. However, a cynical side of me thinks the authors were only displayed as some sort of performance, a “how do you do, fellow human” schtick, I dunno. AI or not, a lack of listed author has the same effect: there’s nobody to blame besides the amorphous WotC blob.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

@@gatesofnocturne3700 Yeah, I suspect there may be some truth to that. Not always, some people like Gavin Verhey seem to be okay with the community knowing exactly who they are, because what they say seems to be their actual opinion. Just feels weird to go from seeing human faces on the blogs to the coporate logo

Honestly, this might have been the plan all along. The didn't know how many to print.. and now the have the data to get an estimate! Ideally (and I don't believe my own words), they'll announce them and put them on the shelves to sell. Also, as with everything WotC-related recently.. I couldn't care less.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Haha, fair enough. Glad you watched the video though. And honestly, I'd love to see SL on shelves but I don't think it will happen. I don't think they'll want to cut any LGS in on their potential profits

the strangest thing about secret lair was how it coincided with the current strategy of accelerated releases. i had just started playing so i really didn't have a problem with it or an opinion honestly BUT i had already noticed the terrible quality of my cards especially compared to older cards. i was looking at my curled up washed out commander legends foils and wondering if this was the best time to push more products as well as a boutique shop while simultaneously cutting corners to save a buck AND raise prices. if the quality was top notch i think it wouldn't be as egregious but clearly they had their cake and ate it.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

And that's just printing quality. Look at how many misprints there have been or broken mechanics. We've had cards using the wrongs names for themselves, the wrong characters being depicted, short cut art made by AI or just straight up stolen. This rate of production is maddness, and QA doesn't seem like they can keep up

@robertoso8796

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames if they had their shit sorted out and they were effortlessly printing the most beautiful cards that convey the 30 years of expertise in the ONLY thing they make, then ya go get yours. some of these cards look like something you used to get in a cereal box.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

And those are the unintentional ones I imagine. Lets not forget things like Double Feature, where they just grey scale the card and be done with it. There are some intentional products that don't have any errors that still could have done with a second or third draft imho

If you think WotC cares about a good secret lair product for the consumer, then i have four words for you: Damage dealing boogie bomb

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

I had to google so much to understand this comment. 10/10 would read the Fortnite wiki again

Who wanted Secret Lair in the first place? I'm not susceptible to FOMO anyway (if anything I have fear of being included), but I've never understood who wants these cards. I wouldn't take them for free, let alone pay for them.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Collectors I guess. I feel the exact target market should be people that just like the particular artist. But I doubt that would make them as much money as trading in FOMO so...

2024 for magic gonna be great!

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

If you haven't seen it, I did a video on all the upcoming stuff for this year and you can see how... hyped... I am for it

Am I the only one who got reminded of They Live by the funny “show the ideology behind the post” parts? It is one of the best movies ever and this is probably the best way to talk about announcements of big companies like wotc. They seem lost in their public communication sometimes, but I am sure that they think about what they want to convey between the lines before they make (important) announcements.

@RedBobcatGames

Күн бұрын

I'm unfamiliar with it myself, but I was getting "science mystery theater 3000" vibes from the way you described it. Is that close?

@LinLuchs

7 сағат бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames It is equally absurd in its premise, but as far as I can tell from what I looked up, the critic of “they live” goes deeper. In a nutshell in “they live” a man finds sunglasses and sees the hidden messages behind all the bill boards in a typical city. When he looks through them he now sees “Buy”, “Obey” or “Mary and Reproduce”. While it is not that surprising that advertisement for specific products aim to animate the recipients to buy them, there are other more subtle and even unintentional messages conveyed by the signs. For example, the all present imperative “obey” may hint at the tendency of advertisement to keep the consumer in an unenlightened state of mind, because then he will of course buy more etc. (There is also a whole alien invasion plot going on, but it is not important for my point…) Anyway, the reason I found the comparison to this video fitting was because you showed how there was another layer of communication (one might call ideology) behind the seemingly “neutral information” the article and generally communication of wizards seems to provide. They really want to stir up FOMO as much as possible. You also did a very entertaining job at showing this, which is another parallel. All in all it is a very good analysis and I wish more people would watch videos like this, so that wotc does not get away with everything they do. (Especially the recent value booster thing is outrageous)

@RedBobcatGames

6 сағат бұрын

Ahhhhh! I see now! I was very confused, I read your comment as a show called something like "Behind the Ideology" which discusses movies like "They Live" haha. I was WAYYY off. I have seen They Live, it's got one of the best fist fights in all of cinema if you ask me. And I totally get what you mean now, about how they present one thing but really mean another, you're right. It's crazy how baltant they can be at times though. As I showed in one of my latest videos on Value Boosters, Mark Rosewater's come out and said exactly who they're for and why. And it's not for the people that play the game, that's for sure

Going to be some spicy comments on this one

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

We will see!

You can't add a reasonable price to SLs if you don't control the supply. The issue becomes wizards makes a profit then the LGS die bc they are forced to buy to it to satisfy their customers

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Sure, but you could make that same argument about any stock from Wizard's that an LGS would buy. Most stores manage to stay in business though, so the model does work at some level

@Teej_0

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames Yeah they stay afloat by not stocking the product anymore. Why do you think so many of them have been cutting back on magic supply. It's bc no one want to buy it bc the price is way too high for how many are printed.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

@@Teej_0 Well that and the sheer amount of product that's coming out. I also think the lack of a 3 set structure like we used to have doesn't help. Sitting on a plane for a few sets helps build hype and interest around it. I genuinely think WotC are missing a trick by not having it

@Teej_0

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames true, like larger prints for stuff like the sets are ok, but I'd even be fin with like 4 sets a year on 2 different planes. Seem more balanced that way, 3 could be overkill sometimes bc some planes just aren't that interesting. But secret lairs definitely needed a tighter print run since it's more of a collectors product

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

@@Teej_0 True. I do miss the 3 set structure though. And I guess I would say if a plane isn't that interesting, then WotC should do better with their story and design. It's their job, just make it more interesting, you know?

Limited run secret lairs means less new prints of slivers for me, so fuck WotC

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

You think? There's a chance there will be more now. Unless they end up in a landfill like a lot of unsold cards did last year

I honestly don't mind the new secret lair stuff

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Any reason?

@TheStartledNinja

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames just feel like his mechanics really fit him and has a fun loop

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Fair enough

I don't mind SLD as just alt art of existing cards but when theres exclusive cards to it that sucks, and making it pre printed is just going to result in scalpers buying all of them before anyone else can. At least with print to order less people miss out

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

What are you thoughts on the reserve list?

@charlieread7097

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGames I don't think I'm familiar with it

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

@@charlieread7097 It's a list of old cards WotC promised to never reprint to keep collectors happy. Basically they're acknowledgement that rarity increases prices of cards

@charlieread7097

6 ай бұрын

@RedBobcatGames I get why they would do that but I'm not a fan of it, there's plenty of newer players like myself that just won't be able to experience playing with those cards then. (Without having to proxy them) Could they not just update the art of those cards? Then that way the collectors still have their rare version of it but everyone else can actually play with them

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

I think that's maybe what Magic 30 was an attempt at? Also, the reserve list has changed a bunch of times over the years. Who even knows what WotC are doing any given month of the year

Good video

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Thank you

I think Secret Lair was what got me to stop playing magic.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Oh no! How come? Surely you could just ignore the cards? That's basically what I do with sets and whatnot that I don't like

now?

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Yeah. Sort of key to my point that even with the recent changes, they're still pretty much the same as they always were

You are going crazy BUT once upon a time WotC only listed authors to posts. I think it was post hasboro acquisition it started to have "corporate" articles. Also MTG has the WORST article archive system. It sucks to search, and there's so many dead links now, you literally can't find some stuff if it's over 5 years old. (Heck I remember an article where they admitted to screwing up skullclamp. Best I can find is a link and hint to it in another article now, the original can't even be pulled up in the wayback machine.) EDIT: Ah now you got to the point of them deleting their online archive. (Well I don't know that it's deleted, but they updated their naming conventions on the website so the articles might still be around somewhere, but the pointers are now dead ends.)

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Jeeze. This sort of stuff just breaks my heart. I'd love to go back and reread all the old stroies again. Just lost to time and it's such a shame

@simplegarak

6 ай бұрын

@@RedBobcatGamesYou and me both. You and me both. (Plus it's frustrating sometimes to talk to youngsters and they're like, "that didn't happen" and you're like, "well if the archives weren't broken i could show you it did")

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, I feel like I'm going to have to be going back to the way back machine well several times from now on. IF whatever I need is on there of course

I have ALWAYS hated the execution of Secret Lairs. I HATE them with a passion. In concept it's a good way to get fans cool alternate art of cards they like. In practice it's a predatory marketing gimmick to get whales and collectors to open up. I wouldn't mind owning some of the cards but I just wasn't there at the time or had the available capital to splurge cos my family is poor. I remember I think it was Spice8Rack saying how it was a bad sign of things to come, and that kinda became prophecy with all the stupid alternate variants of cards you can now get. Back in my day there were only the masterpiece series and the amonkhet invocations but now... dear lord I should add I don't hate them cos I'm jealous, it's moreso the direction it's taken magic product design - hunting bigger and bigger whales until all that's left is an empty ocean

@RedBobcatGames

4 ай бұрын

No, exactly you feel targetted by a corporation. I feel you, I'm exactly the same. I'm also not a fan of all the weird and hard to read alt arts. It makes playing the game harder when they come up

I don’t have a problem with SLDs being print to order. For something special like this, there shouldn’t be millions of copies floating around.

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

TBH I'm somewhat of the same opinion. I think as long as there are "standard art" versions of each card that are readily available so people can actually play the game with them, I don't mind rare alt arts. I guess this video is more in response to some of the outcry that I've seen somewhat misunderstanding what exactly Secret Lairs are in the first place. I think a lot of people seem to want SL to be a place for rare reprints, and I don't think that's what they've ever been

Hey! @Redbobcat What do you think?

@RedBobcatGames

6 ай бұрын

Well, pretty much everything I said in the video. I think they should sell them in stores tbh. But I also think that probably won't happen because it wouldn't make them as much money, and at the end of the day that's all they seem to care about lately

@partyballoonsnorwich2122

6 ай бұрын

​@@RedBobcatGamesI love your videos Red Bobcat! ❤ I remember when I suffered from FOMO when Google were selling their amazing Limited Edition Google Glasses at a discounted price! I thought I'd make a tidy profit by selling them on and bought hundreds of pairs only to find them BANNED from public places because of minor things like safety, privacy and security! Google withdrew them from sale and so now I'm trying to create a computerised telescope from all the pieces! 🔭