[Yhippa]

They're in a tough spot because they have to keep several audiences happy: collectors and players. Players generally want the cheapest set pieces while collectors want the value of their collection to grow. I think WotC has done a decent job trying to satisfy both groups and are at least trying different things. As an investor, you should be happy about that. Whether or not this sea change of releases over the pandemic helps or hurts the long-term health of the game is a worry of mine.

[solardev]

I wish playing with third-party "proxy" cards were more accepted (like https://mtg-print.com/set/fallout or https://proxyking.biz/), where you can get any card custom-printed for a dollar or so. Maybe I just have to find a group where nobody cares about collecting.

If WotC did that first-party, I'd buy a shit ton from them even if they had zero resale value. But I guess that would eat into their collectibles and gacha pack market.

[masklinn]

At least in commander casual it seems pretty well accepted.

And with how extensive some alters are, their proxy nature may not be distinguishable (although I don’t think you should mislead people, just be upfront and if you don’t mind bring fallback decks).

[gpderetta]

It might actually be more accepted in competitive EDH (and pretty much required) as most people can't be expected mortgage their homes to buy a deck full of expensive reserve list cards[1] :D. It helps that cEDH is not a sanctioned format.

[1] cEDH is sometimes called singleton multiplayer vintage for a reason.

[masklinn]

I would not be shocked, but I know nothing about cEDH while I have at least some acquaintance with EDH.

Also talking about singleton vintage is a bit funny when vintage is the only format with a restricted list (and thus in a way the original format with singleton restriction).

[THENATHE]

He is somewhat exaggerating, as most of the MOST espensive cEDH decks peak at around 10k, which is frankly a TON of money but comes from 2 or 3 cards. Take Urza for example: the best Urza Poly Kraken deck (uninterruptable combo deck reliably wins turn 3) is like 9k because it has timetwister, tabernacle, and mox diamond, among other $200+ pieces. This deck is a solid 7 cEDH deck, which places it among the best decks ever. However, drop it to a cEDH 5 and the price drops to 2k because you can cut those crazy cards and make other subs. Drop it to a solid budget cEDH deck and you can get it to $500. Each extra insane piece adds only a nominal amount of power.

[gpderetta]

yes, arguably vintage is singleton vintage :D