6.07.02  My Two Cents

Well everyone has been catching me while online asking what I think of the new Extended rotation.  I figured since everyone else has put their feelings about it on the table, I should as well.  Besides, it gives everyone something fun and interesting to read.

First of al, let me say, IT SUCKS!!!  No, just kidding.  Seriously, I think it's great.  How can you not like it?  From what I could tell everyone was just getting bored with the old Extended situation.  A lot of decks just didn't get played because they were out muscled by other decks.  It was getting to the point that many players I knew didn't even want to check out sideboard coverage of Extended events anymore. They would look at the beginning to see what everyone was playing.  They would then go back later to see where everyone finished.  That's not what you want in a format.  It should be interesting from the beginning to end.  

People were trying to say that Extended was no worse than the current Standard environment.  Their comparison is Psychatog to Donate (notice how Blue always becomes the problem.  R&D needs to get one this!).  That's not really the same comparison.  The main reason being that right now almost any deck in the Standard environment can be tuned to beat any other deck.  Granted, by targeting specific decks, you do give up your natural "given" advantage against other decks.  However, in the current Extended format, that's just not the case.  some decks just have a near impossible time trying to win against a couple of the big decks.  At least in the Standard format you will see decks that don't fit the every day mold able to beat Psychatog.

Now that that's out the way, let me switch gears for a second.  I think the format change is great for the players.  I also think that with the format changing, more players will want to attend Extended events.  However, there are a ton of card dealers that have Dual Lands that they have been trading, selling, and stockpiling for years.  Does this effect the average retailer or dealer?  Of course.  Truthfully though, it doesn't effect them negatively at all.

Let's think about this for a second.  If there are only 3-5 big decks at any given time your sells will be HUGE on cards for those few decks.  However, you will have less players competing in those tournaments, so you are already limited to how much you are going to make.  Plus it is harder to stock up on say, THIRTY Donates, as opposed to having six copies of five different cards that people need.  In the new environment, many experienced players are pointing out a myriad of decks that become playable.  So, from a dealers standpoint, cards that have sat on our shelves and in our binders becomes usable again.  

Intuition, Meditate, Tradewind Rider, Mogg Fanatic, Jackal Pup, Soltari Monk, Soltari Priest, Mox Diamond, Cursed Scroll, Living Death, Oath of Druids, Shard Phoenix, Albino Troll, Rancor, Crusade, Terror, Hatred, the list goes on.

Even that short list has all different rarities in different colors.  This also means that players collections become worth a little more to the dealer.  When I go to look at a collection now, it will have a little more value.  Mainly because there will be more cards in the collection that I know I can resell.

I don't see much bad coming out of this rotation.  To be fair, the Dual Lands will drop in price.  However, most dealers I know are still reporting brisk movement on their Dual Lands in the $6-8 range.  I wouldn't expect them to fall much lower than that.  Casual and Type 1 (Vintage) players will still want to pick them up.

Speaking of Type 1, this bring up an interesting point.  Many more players might be interested in Type 1 now.  Many players saw no reason to play Type 1 while the Extended environment was the way it was.  Maybe now, the gates are open for some more decent Type 1 events.  I host them at my store from time to time, so maybe we can get more people to turn out for them.

All in all, I think the new Extended environment should be an interesting ride.  It will definitely be more fun to play and test.  It will also be more fun to follow. If the dealers take advantage of the situation, even they should make more money in the coming months.

It's a breath of fresh air and everything is looking good.

Until next time,

DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn  
PowrDragn@pojo.com