Well How About That

This fuckin' game. 

The upside: the 30 year anniversary of Magic has one hell of a product release. 

Look at all of these terrible cards. 

No seriously, look at it. They are gorgeous, they are being released in new and old frames, and they are for the very first time I can think of, re-releasing Moxes and Dual lands.

That's the hype point. Physical copies of cards that, wink wink, are not for tournament play. 

Every tournament I have ever been to has players using opaque sleeves. So we all know that we're going to see them at tournaments that aren't run by WotC. Every local game store is almost certainly going to allow these "proxies". 

How you get proxies from the official makers of the game is a question that we clearly have no time for! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!!

Or: Do you want people to play Legacy and Vintage or not? If you do, then STFU. 

Which hey, I am fine to do! Whenever it's come up, I've emphasized how important I think it is that cards be available to the widest possible audience. That there should be a price point that children-and Magic is a game that is open to children-should be able to at least dream of. Since they cannot get copies of Taiga, then by golly let them proxy up a copy so they can engage in the format. Stores should allow these cards to be used in events. 

But. 

Again, let's look at those cards. These are going to be random packs of cards from Magic's history that aren't curated. Sure, you might open a Black Lotus. But you also might open a Force of Nature or a Word of Command. Word of Command is a weird card, and I'm glad they're embracing the weird elements of the old sets, but Force of Nature has been utterly outclassed by improved Magic design. 

Which can be said of many of the cards you're going to see. Chaoslace? Evil Presence? Magical Hack? These are not cards that people are hoping to get. 

And, you know; fine. It's part of the history of the game, so you gotta take the the good the bad and the ugly.

But.

30th Anniversary Edition will be on sale for the holidays, available November 28 for $999 on 30thEdition.wizards.com

And.

Each display of 30th Anniversary Edition will contain four packs of pure nostalgia reimagined in a modern context. Each pack contains 15 cards, 13 cards in the modern frame—1 rare, 3 uncommons, 7 commons, and 2 basic lands—plus one basic land in the retro frame, one additional retro frame card, and a token.

It's selling for $1000. A box -four. packs.- of random proxies. Not tournament legal cards. Proxies. Very pretty proxies made by the Wizards of the Coast and-wait wait, man behind the curtain!!! Don't think about this. 

One thousand dollars. That's just unacceptable to me. It should be unacceptable to everyone.