Magic is just as much about aesthetics as Heroclix. Every card has different art and reprints often share the art with the original. No one likes it but every one excepts it as a natural by product of getting rare cards to people for cheap. Same thing in Heroclix except with sculpts rather than dials.


I've been paying that price since Mirroden (2004!)!

I fully support that idea! I think that is a great work around to the re-use of sculpts!

The cost of Magic packs have been stead since way the heck back in Mirrodin (the original Mirrodin!). You're paying more because Magic is more popular now than it has ever been in its history. Supply and demand.

Also, retailers can make bank off Mythic Rares, which is also contributing to the increased cost of cases... Which wouldn't have happened if Magic was not super hot right now.

It could be worse, you could be playing YuGiOh where every great card runs for 60 bucks minimum! I honestly do not understand why people continue to play YuGiOh.

As for the power level of cards, that is nothing new. Remember affinity? WotC makes bad choices all the time but they tend to be the best over all producer because they at least try to balance things (unlike Cryptazoic and Konami...).

The main thing I don't like about sculpt-re-use are;

1) seeing the same sculpt used in multiple sets.
That *&% Hulk sculpt....

2) seeing the chases look like the CUR/SRs - I opened a few packs of GG, somewhere in there I got a few Dooms/Doombots. Then I opened the chase Doom - yay. Visually it's the same thing I've already got, just glued to a re-used surfboard....

3) Seeing the event prize fig sculpts re-used in a set.
Ex; Adam Warlock. I already have this sculpt from the IG tourny. Do I really need to see it again in my boosters?

Re-Using sculplts for Chase figures is an obvious cash grab. No other way around it. Chase figures should be unique sculpts of the highest quality.

Pasting Dr. Doom on the Surfer's board and calling it a "Chase" is cheap, lazy and greedy.

IMO

I'm OK with it. Keeps costs down, even though the price of plastic must be rocketing up along with the cost of oil.

But then, I'm OK with a lot of things. Such as:

The tiny Hulk sculpt so many people are whining about. It is small. It's also very comic-inspired and well-sculpted. That gets it a pass.

Re-use of sculpts for same-but-different characters. Also fine with this, as it gives more team-building options like the old days without burdening us with too many versions of junk characters (Legacy Hyena).

Re-use of sculpts for generics. OMGosh, I WANT more generics. I can't believe people are complaining about this.

I actually like it from time to time. The GG FF set is kinda brilliant. I like the idea that good sculpts from past sets can make a return.

My issue is the reuse within the set. Tiny-Hulk's sculpt being used in the main set, FF, and Grav Feed is a lot to take. I even like the sculpt even though it's too small.

Chase figures though? They had darn well better be unique sculpts.

Agreed. White Lanterns were one thing, this is just lame.

With all the sculpts being reused over and over and over again it seems like we are back-peddling in time back to the REV era.........

From what I understand, they have switched to using digital photos as it saves them 4+ weeks on production time. By using a digital photo, they can get the ball rolling on the cards faster and prevent that part of the manufacturing proces from delaying a set.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but if it allows them to crank out sets faster (which I know a lot of people are complaining about right now) and keep their delays on scheduling down (which who knows? - while WK has still been missing release dates, it's been by a week or so. Better than the 3+ weeks we saw in the past).

So I'm not saying it's the best way to do it - but there *IS* a reason and it's not a con job or a bait and switch. And as long as there *IS* a reason and I can wrap my head around it, I tend to be a lot more forgiving.

Just my 2 cents...