THE NEXT 60 DAYS. 

Rudy's 100% right. Nobody can build an attachment to a product when after a week 2 more new products are being launched

"Don't ask questions, consume product, then get exited for next product "

*"There is no time to build a deck anymore."* Dang.. this one hurt..

That’s what made 1994 so special for me. I started when Revised was in print. Legends packs were $20. The Dark was around $6. There weren’t anywhere near the number of sets or specialty products coming out at that time. So while people eagerly awaited Fallen Empires, we were busy getting familiar with Legends, Antiquities etc. We connected with those sets not just because they were among the best ever, but because we had time to play with them.

100%. Pace of release is overbearingly fast. Basically every single set they’ve released would be doing at least moderately better if people had time to process and enjoy them. We should still be focused on Dominaria United standard in the post rotation meta. EDH players should still be building and optimizing decks, Modern and Pioneer should be vetting new DU cards for the breakout cards. Instead we’ve moved on to Warhammer, but we don’t have time for that because Unfinity, but we don’t have time for that because Brothers War, but we don’t have time for that because the 30th Collector boosters, but we don’t have time for that because Transformers, but we don’t have time for that because we’re announcing 3 more Universes Beyond sets, but we don’t have time for that because Lord of the Rings is only half a year away and we need you to get HYPED AND STAY HYPED FOOOOREVAAAAR!!! Or at least until execs can cash out their vested stock options and get their bonuses. Then the product can burn.

You nailed it. Their product release is too fast.

Why is it a surprise video game prices are tanking? We all know the prices were artificially inflated by the grading companies to line their own pockets.

The 30 anniversary should have been a massive injection of prize support for LGSs so that everyone can celebrate and be rewarded for giving Hasbro truck loads of $$$ for so many years

What do we think Rudy got from Taco Bell? My guess is a collector's edition party pack where each taco is random

My anger at Wotc and Hasbro has turned to indifference, which will hurt them more in the long run because it will be that much harder to get me back into the game.

It makes perfect sense. When I played regularly, there were 4 sets a year, and every other year the fourth set didn't matter for standard. Now it's like 6 sets a year plus 5-6 other releases, and it's just exhausting. The only other company releasing that often is Bushiroad, but that's a game where you don't need to buy into the new sets if you don't want to, you can just play with cards from two years ago and you'll be fine.

Cardboard is only good for heating your home when oil and gas runs out

High speed print sets! Eat this new setttttt!!!!

Speaking as someone who still has my immense collection dating back all the way to the 90s. This is the one official product that finally broke my opinion on buying counterfeited cards. Until this whole thing with Wizards changes direction, I'm now all for buying counterfeits. If they want to celebrate the anniversary of the hobby we all invested so much in with the most greedy thing I have ever seen from this company, then I'm now 100% all for buying counterfeits. I had the same issue with gaming. I've always seen pirating in gaming as necessary for game preservation alone. But when all the companies in gaming suddenly made games just to milk everyone financially dry, I then supported pirating for just the sake of not paying for it. I'm still against it with smaller indie titles that is quality, but not any games from the big greed publishers. I'm completely against buy counterfeit cards to scam people and LGS, but just to have some of these over expensive cards to play with friends etc, im all for it now

2 seconds in and I'm like nice, he didn't blow out my eardrums. 5 seconds in and I'm like hello tinnitus my old friend

buyer fatigue happened just after ikoria. apart from singles im kinda done.

They should change the number of release set products to 6 per year: 4 standard (including Core) + 2 other sets aimed at Modern/Commander; they could still release precons like Universe Beyond and other limited edition products like Secret Lairs and such, but the idea should be for us to actually enjoy playing draft and sets for 2 months before focusing on the next...being very honest, I don't even have time to play more than 2-3 drafts per set, because as soon as I play 3, it's time for a new one, I don't even remember any of my drafts from Kamigawa, and that was 5 months ago!

Emotional connection is huge for product success

I used to pore over spoilers, memorize all the cards, think of which of my commander decks cards could go into, talk with friends about the new cards, ect... I literally can't remember any of the cards now-a-days. I haven't even looked at dominaria. It's been since... like the dinosaur set ixilan? Just can't keep up. anymore.

*69 Days Later* Day 0: Wizards implodes the market by reprinting the Reserved List. Day 1: Shockwaves quickly spread throughout markets, panic ensues. Day 2: Negativity spreads on Reddit like wildfire. People run around with hair on fire. Day 4: Rudy puts out messages trying to calm Patrons down and instill confidence, so he can dump his huge position before it all goes to zero. Day 8: The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff declares the entire American Southeast a _"Cardboard Exclusion Zone"_ - no cardboard goes in, or out. Day 9: Rumors go around that this measure is in preparation for the exercise of the _"Ebay Hammer Option":_ All collections and portfolios are to be liquidated at buy list prices immediately, and losses marked to market on balance sheets. Day 14: The average basement stock of Doritos and Mountain Dew runs out. Collectors start getting anxious and considering desperate measures, like going outside. Day 21: Individuals all over the south start trying to travel down to Rudy's basement in Florida. Stories passed by word of mouth among travelers state that his basement, AKA _The Safe House,_ will be the only place in the entire eastern seaboard in which cardboard collections will not get liquidated; and that he has kept a fully functional Taco Bell restaurant running underground in his property. Day 69 - 69 Days Later - No help is coming, most likely. Word among survivors is that the U.S. Government collapsed and the powerless fragments are trying to secure cardboard loans from European financiers before taking any further steps. Cardboard quotas for the five ersatz U.S. _"Administrative Zones"_ are personally overseen by Mark Rosewater in WOTC HQ. With the infrastructure destroyed and populations decimated, nature starts to take back previously human-occupied spaces. Abandoned LGSs are bathed in a kaleidoscopic shower of light in the morning, as sunrays bounce off the broken glass in the windows. As nature reclaims the place and overgrowth takes over, a handful of big-boned skeletons strewn around the aisles can be seen, touching grass for the first time in several years.

Your right, Without that connection in the products love and memories are not built so players will not look back with fondess and desire as the years go by. Players will not even remember the names of most of these products they come out so fast.

Rudy needs to scream FOLKS everytime now. Scares the shit out of me each time

I don’t know where I would be without my daily “FOOOOOLKS!!!”

We'll be looking back in 2 years at the 30th MTG anniversary box and thinking what a comparative bargain it was compared to what followed😬

I still like the unfinity set. But I canceled my Amazon preorders so WotC wouldn't get maximum profits.

The cruel summer of 2022... Q4 - Hold my beer.

I agree with the message. I don't feel I have enough time to digest any set and totally resonate with feeling 4 sets behind.

WOTC, when are we getting our Secret Lair Commander Decks? It's fall, look outside, there is pumpkin spiced shit everywhere. When? Why? Still waiting.

The bigger this "product avalanche" gets the more I get into older product. I just bought a pack of the Dark and I am in contact with a friend to buy a Morningtide box, at least I can get something actually interesting this way, I have no way to keep up with modern product. Talking to people locally and many others feel the same, even my LGS stopped doing box openings for their inventory.

I've been dying to get my hands on a full set of CE or ICE. If this release makes them a little more reasonably priced, it's a personal win. Will you be selling any or are they all long-term investment?

about 10 years ago I remember saying that it was too hard to stay in Magic cuz every block is gone in a few months. It's not like 95' where everything you played was cool, and it all fit together, and everyone was playing kitchen table Magic. I mean everyone. Not anymore. Thanks for pointing this out.

I was not ready for that “folks” haha 😂 had my volume way to loud.

man you nailed it ...and you should see the cupodcast pat and ian have been covering the pending sealed game crash and collusion in grading

Wizards doesn’t think these things are their problems. These things are our problems as far as they are concerned. That shit is short-sighted AF.

Rudys damn intros always give me a jolt

I just love the 13+ Age Rating on the product, as if a teen can afford this 😅

I've loved Magic for a long time and all these recent boxes had me nervous. Now they come out with this and it makes me really scared where we are headed. I know Wizards is just about making money, so I hope this product fails (it won't)

I get this. This past few weeks my group has sold all high-end stuff (75+) because there's not even enough time to play test this stuff before it releases. They drop either massive amounts, or next to nothing and we all made the split between playing and collecting. As a collector, it's been bangers, as a player, fatigue as mass amounts of new cards (plus refaced cards with different colors) is making it harder to be creative. "Fake Your Own Death" common was a combo piece that everyone looked over (including me) and when my friend showed me I was like, "Bro, I understand WOTC prints power across rarity, but this common is dumb all by itself". I'm a budget player in all games, I don't understand how something like that went unnoticed (especially since I cut my card pool of cards to use in half).

another 100% correct! I still have a connection with The Dark, even Fallen Empires because I had time to explore all the cards before moving on to another expansion.

Having lost all my money on Magic collecting the non foil common's taste better, that's where my $$$ will be!

My absolute favourite memories in magic are the OG kamigawa and ravnica prereleases. best time of my life. Absolute minimal spoiler information, whole rooms full of GD hype!

There is a huge opportunity here for Rudy to do his own Magic 30th anniversary set and show Wotc how badly they missed the mark. Judging by the quality of his 6.9 set I think it would be a massive hit.

I've only purchased one item as a patron but it's these types of videos that make it WORTH. EVERY. PENNY. @19:35 @23:14

I saw Street's Collectors at $125 and I was like, "What's the worst that could happen with a unique, desired, land cycle?" We'll see how it shakes out in 5 years.

It's going to keep happening until sales drop. WOTC could care less what's happens after the product is out their doors, they've made their money. All the negativity on social media is maybe 10% of all the people who buy MTG, for all the people who say they're not buy, the product still sells.

Best folks ever

I agree with this. Back during the time with three set blocks, you really had a whole year of Mirrodin (for example) compared to now when you have maybe five weeks to enjoy a set.

My LGS is literally running out of space to store everything so they're cutting back too.

OMG @ 3:20 yes RUDY, i have been saying this over and over again for 20 years. MTG should only put out at max 2 sets per year to allow players to play the cards in each set before being overwhelmed with the next set of 100-300 new cards.. and hasbro dont give a shit because they just are so greedy and stupid. and as for pokemon, the card game has way more collectors than players. ..opposite than MTG who has a different buyer base... BUT i do think all game companies should only release 2 sets per year even games like pokemon who have more collectors than players

That fucking "FOLKS" call-out is the best, all time!!!

I think the move by Wizards is them wanting a piece of the secondary market, or even eventually the whole thing. They sell more high-priced products to farm the FOMO, profit all the value right off the bat, disregarding the secondary value. Fastest way for them to hit their +50% growth.

Thanks Rudy! I got in to buying Magic a few years ago, just as i was retiring. I found Rudy's videos as War of the Spark hit, and i nearly bought in to that, but When Throne of Eldraine (TOE) as i call it, i knew that was the set for me. So TOE was were i started buying. in the UK, Amazon were selling Fat packs for £38 pounds (with 10 booster packs!) or for £4 to £6 more Gift Bundles (10 boosters and a collector Booster) To be honest it was madness £6 for a Collector booster pack? I bought so many of these, Amazon refused to sell me them till they hit £60+ buy then I was rounding up any thing TOE i could. Yes I'm a Whale, or was, i had a bit of spare cash then, so I bought a Deluxe set, and my binder holds a mint set of foil cards including all borderless Extended art cards Brawl cards Foil where possible and Foil Tokens, i believe i have 5 to 6 full card sets, plus another Foil set at least, as Eldraine ended i bought and opened more, until it was clear stocks were drying up, I then bought 3 booster boxes (£69) four Fat packs (£29) and as many plainswalker and Brawl decks as i could, if it was TOE and Cheap, i bought it. None of these got opened, they remain sealed. TOE is not the only set i bought in to, I have quite a bit of Ikoria opened, plus more unopened booster boxes and both Fat packs and Presentation packs. i'm not reach, i don't have millions in the bank, but thanks to Rudy and Amazons price error on gift packs, i've turned about £1000 in to £3000 and it been hours of fun too. Never did this to make money, just for fun, and i still love cardboard. Again Thanks for Sparking my interest, in MTG (and i still can't play the game, but I am nearly 62! LOL)

I used to be able to memorize every card in a set. Now when I look at a card I don't even try.

Yes no nostalgia created. Love that that's a perfect way to phrase it

looking foward to uninfinity openings!

Can’t agree more… wish WoC would slow down

As you said, people don't have time to develop a fondness for Magic sets at the pace they get shoved out the door. Sure, sealed products from 2022 might not be considered failures in 2 years, but hardly anyone is going ta have a special place in their heart for them either.

I remember not long ago when war of the spark came out u we’re lucky to find a booster pack on the rack at Walmart . It was exciting as hell to find an open a few packs cause they sold so fast …. Now the shelf is overflowing with midnight hunt and crimson viw still .. and commander boxes jammed packed … but they are NEVER ..EVER ! on sale even though no one buys them ?

The real problem is that they keep printing secondary sets that are specifically for older formats or Commander, and this is causing all the metas of all the formats to shift too fast. Nobody can build, because nobody has time to play-test all these possible builds. It has brought tremendous diversity to the decks that can be played, but that causes uncertainty in players who want to be competitive, and that in turn creates instability in the secondary market. The staples of the established Tier 1 decks get more expensive because they are safe, and everything else crashes because nobody is sure that they should be playing it.

100% spot on

Everyone fireselling OG collectors edition falling into the same trap that many big box stores did in 2020 when they stopped buying vintage.

hit the nail on the head

Cut back on print run? That’s nothing. I’m cutting back on spending too! So it goes both ways!

Still waiting for my Heads I win Tails you Lose deck!!!! Insane that its still not ready

If you tip Rudy a 3 Crunchy Tacos Combo, you'll get exclusive, serialized greasy fingerprints on the shipping box. That taco bell disclosure made my day.

19:35 absolutely

You talk for the whole community! Please make sure this message somehow arrives Wizards!

It WAS a good run 💖

Ahaha fu Rudy I turned my sound up thinking it would be a quiet opener for once :D

I notice Lego doing this as well. There is a new 500$ adult aimed set every few weeks now. You can't sustain infinite growth.

I used to buy a case whenever a new set came out because it was affordable. Couple hundred bucks here and then. By the time they started splitting new sets in "draft, set, collector blabla" i just quit. There are sooo many new products releasing that i wouldnt call it "collectables" anymore. Luckily FAB removed first/unlimited and focused on one proper set at a time (like magic did in the good old times) so there goes my money now!

Churn and Burn 🔥 is the motto From WotC for 2022 and the fore seeable future.

Rudy, your point on letting a product breathe is exactly why I stopped playing magic

Rudy please come fix my dishwasher

For the last year or so, other than singles, the only sealed products I've bought is a Fat Pack (I can call them that, because I'm overweight) for each set, and a box of Double Masters

Pokemon bathroom is either a great rap song title or a movie about a nerd with recurring pothead supporting characters.

I couldn't help but notice you have rule of rose on your shelf.

rudy what do you order when you eat at tacobell? can we have a rudy asmr tacobell mukbang

Been an avid player back in 1994-1996. Now I play modded Duels of the Planeswalkers videogames to recapture that magic.

The "magic" of Magic is getting choked out by the profit motive.

Consume, Consume, Consume

rudy, i am curious if you pay attention to what is going on around the world.

I'm surprised that Unholy Strength and Demonic Tutor came back in full form... crazy stuff looking forward to a Serra Angel and a Lotus

I think there will be still nostalgia for people selecting a few sets by year and enjoying them. The question is which sets will have the most nostalgia among the recents products (and so will have no problem to age), that will be the mystery to analyse and resolve.

Love the video! Don't know anything about Pateron* ( don't know if i spelled it right), but got a question.. Do you have any Dragons of Tarkir booster boxes laying around for sell?

can you make a video with the top boxs to buy and hold? maybe include a few that will be releasing soon.

Standard used to be a thing. You had 4 sets and it was balanced for the most part. We used to have 8, and it always turns into that. Like if you look at the timeline; *zendikar rising, strixhaven, kaldheim, forgotten realms, midnight hunt, crimson vow, kamigawa neon dynasty, new capenna.* Until *dominaria* came out, and even then there's 5. But wait, there's more!!

The last set I really bonded with was ELD, since then it feels like it has been way too much product for the average consumer to keep up with.

Can anyone answer for me the elephant in the room obvious little Timmy question here that I see no one is asking which is - Doesn't this go against the promise of the Reserved list? The whole reason why Black Lotus and the power 9 for starters would retain / grow in future value because they stated they weren't allowed to reprint them, yet here we are where they are brazenly reprinting it not once but in two different versions that look crazy similar to the originals? Massive class action lawsuit incoming?

...ahem... ... ... ... ... ...FOOOLKS!

If they wanted to flood the market, the trick is go back to dark set numbers around 100 vs 300. But buying box after box for 3 cards and then shipping bulk off pushes people to singles

This is so true my guy

I do love mtg but to reiterate exactly what you said, I literally just can't keep up. I even missed out on the one set I did want this year with the 40k one's as I was tapped out. (I used to play 40k)

In The Next 60 Days Rudy will get a Hair Cut & Eat a Floppy Taco!! No word on a Shower...

Agreed. WOTC is releasing products way too fast. We had capenna, baldurs gate, double masters, dominaria, unfinity and 40k in less than 6 months. That’s an average of 1 expansion per month, which is stupid. Nobody has the money to buy every product (except for rudy haha). They should release a new main expansion every 3 months and sometimes throw in a product like double masters, unfinity and 40k in between that.

At some point you look at all the shiny, fancy lands you buy into heavily every set and you're like hey. Maybe I don't need more basic lands, or block lands. Maybe I should use the 31K I already have. Do people even play MTG tabletop anymore? I used to hear about local tourneys and drafts all the time, it seems pretty dead right now.

Product fatigue is real. The product being pushed out is not the same quality, some runs don’t even have rares in the boxes. Hasbro is pushing WoTC to increase profit margins. The current rate of product release isn’t sustainable. WoTC has stepped back on secret lair sets, somewhat anyways.

Dominaria U. was the best for me of MTG in 2022

They should sell $30,000 boosters for the 30th anniversary; makes more sense.

God damn, this is why I only play burn in modern. LIGHTNING BOLT