Magic: The Gathering Is The Walking Dead 

Why Does Standard Keep Failing? Untitled MTG Podcast #18 (feat. TheAsianAvenger of MTGGoldfish) here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_poAn1wlG8U.html

I for one look forward to swinging for game with Travis Scott

"I tap Shinji to crew Evangelion. Then i move to combat and attack with Drogon, Eva 1 and Gandalf." - Magic in 2030

Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair - RAID Shadow Legends! When this happens, I quit

The irony of WotC preserving the "Reserve List" because of a promise that it made but then continually printing unique promos after the "DragonCon" promise is truly astounding

Imagine losing to a pickle rick edh deck

When the Professor and Rudy are making the same points, you know it's bad.

Can't wait for them to finally print Shrek as a real card. A commander deck has many layers like an onion. Now i can finally make my ogre tribal deck. Swinging for lethal saying it's all ogre now.

I'm glad one of the largest MtG RU-vid channels is giving WotC the lashing they deserve.

Fantastic work, Professor. It sucks that you had to make this video, but you hit the nail on the head here.

“Like a rat, pushing a button, for sexually simulation” had me dying lmao

"That's just the card. It's just Sheldon. You need Sheldon now" 😂😂

Anyone remember when a "draft booster" was just a "booster"??

WOTC : "Real life literature has no place on Magic cards, we'll write our own flavor text from now on." Also WOTC : "hehe, Negan fights the gods of Theros"

“Maybe this game isn’t for you” Wizards has been saying this for years, but only recently did anyone actually listen

I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d print exclusive new “common” secret lair cards and ruin pauper as well

In 5 years, we will have a format called "Smash" where you can only play with cards from other IP. In this format, I will equip my Masamune to Sonic the Hedgehog, thereby making it automatically kill your Iron Man if you block with it.

Prof: *sarcastically listing characters* wotc: Quick, write them down!

Y'know, when we said Stryxhaven was "the Harry Potter set", we didn't mean that to be literal.

It makes me happy seeing The Professor and so many other MtG community representatives speaking truthfully about this. The magic (no pun intended) of this game is being stripped away by featuring outside IP’s and making them competitive format legal. The fans and dedicated players need to show their anger, Wizards needs to know that this is wrong. Prof, you are right that they will continue to make these in the foreseeable future, and that scares me. It won’t be a game anymore at that point, just a marketing scheme. Let them know my fellow spellslingers, that we can’t put up with this

Why does it feel like we don't have a voice? That line " maybe this game isn't for you" cut deep.

This feels like an I'm not angry, just disappointed speech from a father figure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Once a company is sold by its original founders to a giant megacorporation, it's only a matter of time before either the product quality is diluted to save money, or the brand is diluted by hyper-expanding the product to make more money. It's an inherent failure mode of stakeholder-driven economics. When the people making the decisions are beholden to the stakeholders, and the stakeholders only care about money, nothing is sacred: not product quality, not loyalty to customers, not the company's corporate values. I imagine there is a lot of internal disaffection in Wizards over the direction the company is moving in; I wouldn't be surprised if we see an increase in retirements and resignations once the pandemic subsides.

Can you imagine Tolkien ending his novel with a "And finally the avengers arrived and defeated Sauron? This is how it makes me feel. I will just say that every person who buys this abomination will put their grain of sand to destroy this game

"They'll probably do Pickle Rick or something." Nobody tell him about the Rick & Morty D&D module.

Gathering dollars: The Magic

Ib4 Pickle Rick commander decks. Seriously wtf WOTC, anything to please the shareholders I guess. Appreciate you Prof for having telling it like it is.

I can’t wait to swing in for game with The Winged Dragon of Ra in a game of EDH 😂

The professor is always painfully honest, and I respect the hell out of him.

Hilariously, there are now torunament legal magic cards that aren't even being sold in the home country of the Magic world champion.

WotC: Breaks promises to not abuse customers for highly exclusive products Also WotC: Won't break RL

Magic players to wizards: You had our anger, now you have our disappointment. :(

I don't think the "children" aspect holds up very well considering much of the art & lore surrounding MTG in the first place. Everything else though is spot on.

Note that the Prof's first released video after this announcement was about how to play another game. And all his links in the description are about how to play other games. Heartbreaking

Should have been silver border. Never been so mad at WotC

Secret Lair: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Hearing Mitch's feedback was heartbreaking. He was so passionate about the subject. Hearing from you echo those feelings just sucks for the game. There is still something good about this game, but it is fading fast

Another issue with this specific crossover is that, a while ago, rosewater answered a question in his blog about the existence of Earth in the multiverse. He said it doesn't exist because mixing Earth with a fantasy IP would be problematic and they would never do it, so they determined it doesn't exist. Now they do this...

Only a matter of time now before we get Doritos Food tokens and Raid Shadow legends commanders, and before you know it, you will have to buy four Happy Meals to get your playset of Ronald McDonald fetches to build your fast food modern tier one deck.

"a point for another video, **if I have it in me**" ...Professor, take my energy. The world needs you.

Prof, you have a way of making us laugh, ponder things deeply, and at times... break our hearts, simply by showing us your own broken heart. You’re one of my favourite people.

This is the first time I've legitimately felt a decision could be part of the death of this game

As a walking dead fan who has every issue of the comic and loves the show, I was BEYOND hyped when I found out about the crossover. I dont even want to play these cards, I was going to frame them and put them up above my desk. Two of my favorite things doing a crossover? Yes please. But with these announcements it leaves a massively bad taste in my mouth to even consider buying this obvious cash grab cooperate sellout product. All they had to do was make these silver border like literally EVERY SINGLE OTHER CROSSOVER PRODUCT that had original cards. As a collector, I am very excited, but as a player, I am confused, betrayed, and absolutely furious that wizards is going down this route.

These cards feel more like unglued joke cards and break the immersion of fantasy world setting completely. I consider this the tipping point when the game is done for good.

You, Mitch (Commander's Quarters) and PleasantKenobi are one of the best content creators having the community in mind. Thanks for being a voice for the community

Brian is right here. He's also as respectful in his criticism as is humanly possible. I can't imagine anyone finding fault with this video (outside of disagreement with the central premise).

I just hate them for the flavour fail. It’s like monster trucks in LotR.

Absolutely first-rate thoughts. Outstanding in every way. Thank you. I'm so sorry for your loss. And mine.

"Expect wizards of the coast to put a band aid on this" - they have already put a 'damage control' video out already. Pretty much also confirming all of what Prof predicted. There will be more.

a new format where only these pop culture references are legal, called "post modern"

It speaks volumes that before the cards themselves were revealed, no one cared that there was a WLD secret lair. But now almost everyone is mad at them for this. I told my brother who doesn’t play mtg anymore and he still got pissed and said the rc should ban them right away.

If im ever at a table where someone announces TWD as their commander, I'm going all in on them alone and letting Eldrazi run rampant.

What I would really like to see is a set, probably like Secret Lair or similar, small products, that contains much needed commanders for tribes or deck styles that we are lacking. The cards would have the same restrictions as normal CMD cards, but we wouldn't have to wait for the yearly (or now bi-yearly or more...) CMD decks to release, or hope they make good Legendaries in the most recent set, to get a new set of commanders to play with. But a small set dedicated to CMD specific cards, allowing for some CMD releated mechanics to be printed on them, would be amazing.

Can't wait to play my EDH Session with my favorite commander, John Cena in the new Secret Lairs: WWE legends.

This was the most serious intro ever, sadly this topic deserves it.

I don’t play Magic but I got an ad for this product in my Instagram timeline and saw the outrage in the comments about the product and it led me to this video. Now I’m curious about getting into Magic

I hear you, Prof. Thank you for this extra information and interpretation -- I feel like I get it now. I also want you not to lose hope, just like I don't want to lose hope. One important thing about Magic is that it takes a lot of time to learn it. A LOT of time. If you leave Magic and then get into it again, it takes much less time to learn. I think it's cool that you're directing Magic players to other games. When players switch, this will send a message to Wizards that they need to listen to their customers, and then the players that switched can come back. Guess what? Supply and demand works both ways. If there are fewer customers, then prices won't be as high and the day will come where Wizards is supplying only one copy of a certain card, EVER, for lower than they want. Can't decrease supply? Guess you have to increase demand! We have to make sure we keep the spark of Magic alive until that happens and then come flooding back in when the time is right. Keep your head up, Brian. We need you. We love you. And the Magic community is alive in your heart and in ours.

"Buy-a-Box promos won't be standard staples." "Secret lair cards won't be Eternal staples." Sure.

I live in NZ. The Secret Lair I bought (Can You Feel With a Heart of Steel) finally got shipped today. I bought it June 3rd.

"You remember Draft?' Ya, I remember Draft. I remember I could stand up, go to my LGS, buy $12-$15 dollars on packs and then spend a day playing Magic with 7 of my friends. I remember when I could play an amazingly fun day of Magic for less than $20... I remember I could buy a powerful deck for less than $50, even a Commander deck or a fairly decent Standard deck or whatever. I remember when I could properly afford to buy a good deck more than once a year... Or afford anything other than a Pauper deck for less than $50 (and that's even pushing it now apparently...)

I called this a year ago and quit, but I am still so sad for you fans that it came to become a reality. My heart goes out to all of you.

I don't like it when the Prof sounds this distraught, it's upsetting.

"Sheldon, from the Big Bang Theory" *shows Leonard* Not even attempting to hide your disdain for the show lol.

Hey brian my name is cody and i just wanted to say thank u for everything u do. U said at the end of this video that magic the gathering saved ur life.... that hit home... hard. when u first hear it it sounds goofy but like u magic saved my life also, Ive struggled my whole life with addiction. i played when i was younger but just recently got back into it.... and by got back into it i mean hard. New to recovery i picked it up and have not been able to put it down my addictive personality really shows in my collection lol but anyway thank u for everything sir im coming up on 3 yrs sober and i truly believe that magic has been my main tool in my recovery besides all the other therapy stuff, magic and videos like this help me go to another place that i use to once use drugs for. So thank u for the inspiration thanks

This is some really refreshing logic and realism. It's nice to see you, a popular MtG RU-vidr, acknowledging WotC's terrible track record in regards to keeping their promises and making format staples accessible.

Why does wotc go back on all their promises except the one about the reserved list? Where's the promissory estoppel crowd threatening to sue over this blunder?

I heard from Mitch, I was waiting on the Professor's statement. United front, as I expected from two of the most critical, and vigilant minds.👍

Thanks for a well put together Video, all of your points are well formed and make sense, Keep up the good work, I wish the RC had your common sense with this issue. Not against the concept in Silver border or SL as a reprint with TWD art. I have just watched but now subscribed.

Hey Prof, long time lurker of your videos, first time commenting. You absolutely nailed the issues with this product. I am just astounded that they didn't simply produce these cards as silver border right from the off. They have done that with every other IP except for the godzilla series cards, which as you have stated, weren't a concern because it was just an altered game piece, perfectly available to everyone who requires the card itself to play the game. These secret lairs also are taking away from the LGS, which in this pandemic are still greatly suffering, and some unfortunately collapsing entirely. Thankfully I'm from a relatively small city, where our communities have realized what is occurring, and have been doing our best to support our LGS's as much as possible in order to continue having a space to play. I feel strongly that with this secret lair, as well as other sketchy decisions being made (most likely by) corporate WotC, that they are caring less and less about players in their games. I also feel that if indeed they don't care about the LGS anymore, and were in fact interested in pursuing the Esports arena (using Arena...) are these secret lairs likely to be involving a download code to unlock these pieces in Arena for future commander or other eternal formats that may end up being included eventually? This is an absolute point of no return. There is no recovery for WotC if this behaviour continues, and I believe that it will result in the massive reduction of the amount of people who are interested in continuing to play this game that we know and love.

0:11 The Professor is Walking towards the camera with a Dead stare. Limited black bordered cross-over cards is a big no-go. I don't even like the art of these cards, looks like a photograph of the actual actors more than fantasy art.

I find it hilarious that when Prof referenced Sheldon from Big Bang, he showed the wrong character. Part of me hopes it was intentional

Hey professor! Great video, just to add, Brazil is out of Secret Lair delivery but when south america has aGP it's here, we do have GP as you well know, and we do have command zone but WE DON'T receive secret lair that was made to COMMANDER PLAYERS. Many legacy players are upset and afraid to the next tier god list use 4 of secret lair avengers cards.

It starts with frozen, frozen justifies minions, minions justifies rick and morty, rick and morty justifies family guy, family guy justifies paper magic disappearing

I hate to see the Professor sad. WotC, stop making the Professor sad...

I died to "frozen3" in the tags. This might be the only humorous thing about this whole affair.

Excellent points sir. Much love Prof. Youre doing a wonderful job covering our game bud. Please keep it up and keep your head up sir.

I won’t play against someone using these cards. WotC has officially jumped the shark.

Players: Please revoke the reserved list, we need reprints of eternal formats' staples! WotC: What? Print new reserved list cards? OK, you asked for it!

This reminds me of a video on QUEST FOR THE JANKLORD's channel. The Teletubby Black Lotus secret lair drop. I Laughed then because I thought it wouldn't get that far, now I'm not laughing.

Love your videos dude!

0:52. Interesting. For me and this is me back in high school. My card game that changed not only my life. But what helped me being myself, inspiring others to do the same. And what made me friends that I bonded with to this day. For me, it was "Yu-Gi-Oh!". I know the community are different from card games. But I always enjoyed games of all types. Even Magic the Gathering. This is relatable and understanding. I paused to share my card game that not only did save me. But what inspired my high school. Making friends. And honestly, expressing my hard, sad, dark and happy moments and times. Thank you for sharing. Not sure how Magic the Gathering saved you. If you ever did made a video or plan to, I'd watch. Thank you for sharing that. Now, resuming the video.

Wizards already has the perfect setup for next year: Kaldheim - Vikings tie-in Strixhaven - Harry Potter tie-in Innistrad Vampires/Werewolves - Twilight

I wonder if they got inspired by those POPs! Toys and were like “we can do this for Magic...” . I can’t wait for Pickle Rick + Baby Yoda Combo to dominate the format

Thank you Prof!! until now, u are the only streamer that mentioned the people living outside US! thank u for thinking of us. I feel so bad for the "secret lair" products because for me are so unreachable, I love MTG, and I use to spend a lot of money on cards... but I cannot afford the taxes and the delivery of that kind of product.

I freakin love star wars and magic, but I wouldn't like them to be mashed together because it ruins consistency. That being said, in a dedicated goofy magic format like unstable, I'd like to see these crossovers, because it would be hilariously over the top.

When first getting into Magic several years ago, I talked to friends who said that they "used to play" or "sold all their cards, because it wasn't fun anymore." It had confused me at that point, because I looked at this incredibly complex game with awe and wonder, and was always trying to get my friends to sit down for a game. After this announcement, as well as the standard banning, I know now. Even if you own the greatest card game in the world, money will always take precedence over the player base.

The second one of those Minions gets printed on a card I'm selling my entire collection

We can do Dora the Explorer Secret Lair and Los Angeles Lakers Secret Lair.

Thanks Professor for making this video. Guess it's all downhill from now on. Well. Fingers are still crossed! 🤞

"Just change the borders from black to silver." please

I remember you discussing with Blake why secret lairs weren't being sold or ordered through game stores. The answer boiled down to "it would take months" for customers to order them, stores to place the orders, cards printed to the demand and then shipped. It's now taking months for WotC to print to demand all of the secret lairs that they offer directly. I would like to see a video on that hypocrisy.

It is a very dangerous precedent, truly terrifying especially after that promise was broken. Thank you for laying it out so clearly as well as the deeper and more Sinister implications.

Opening words was a strong message and I completely agree. Shouldn't be put down because theres concern and care about this awesome game. Also best dressed prof!

Prof: abolish the reserved list! Wotc: *prints cards directly into the reserved list*

"i turned myself into a magic card Morty. im a magic pickle!"

Prof, would you make another video on cube as a format? -Its proxy welcome -Its as cheap or expensive as you want -There's no recurring cost like retail limited -you're not at the mercy of official restrictions or the edh rc You've made some really useful videos in the past about what the format is and how to get started, but a follow up video to promote the format would be incredible. Especially with people looking at buying commander legends. They should know that they can build a wicked commander cube to play with friends that has massive replay ability!

All the business stuff behind this is 100% solid. I'll push back on the crossover stuff, though. I think it's fine to have lots of different licenses come in. Remember, the original design intent of this was a "deckmaster" system, where cards from theoretically different games would all work together, except oops, having anything different on the card back kind of breaks things a little bit. Having lots of different licenses looks to me like what Yu-Gi-Oh is, or at least how it started, at face value. You get Little Red Riding Hood mixed with Gradius mixed with cartoons and so on. This is actually a thing I really like about Heroclix (yes I basically have to bring that up with my comments every time), where the system is shared between licenses. I can run a team with Green Lantern Jon Stewart, Slate from Bioshock Infinite, and a bunch of Foot Soldiers (actually one of my favorite teams), or have mystical pieces from Yu-Gi-Oh, Marvel, DC, and TMNT all together. I can have a team of cosmic gods that reaches into Star Trek, and so on. My Little Pony absolutely would fit in with Magic: the Gathering just like Walking Dead could. Get some Transformers in my deck vs. Eldrazi in yours. I can absolutely see fitting some Star Wars space wizards in here, as if wizards need any help. Yes, it's good to have lots of original content and stories, but I also feel good when I can play with stuff I care about from other sources. Granted... I don't actually play Magic anymore, I just keep up with what's going on, and I'm always down with lots of licenses within the same game system. The business stuff behind this is absolutely bogus, of course. No argument there whatsoever.

It's called an abusive relationship.

As Rick once said "We are the Walking Dead." If MTG continues down this path, there is no return. The game as we know it will die. The shambling corpse of our favorite game will remain to feed off other franchises.

I pay 6 mana to bring out Broly, Legendary Super Saiyan from the commander Zone. I mutate Megazord Tank mode to bring out Megazord Battle Mode and mutate to bring out UltraZord. I pay 3 mana and exile 3 cards from graveyard to Escape Goku Super Saiyan 3. Now for combat and i tap Morty, Ultrazord, Broly and Roman Reigns and deal 25 damage