#415 "Ranting To A Brick Wall"

Date:6/3/08

Whenever Maro starts a column with "Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that making Magic cards is a business...", it's time to get nervous. He's right, of course--it is a business. But every god-awful change they make to the game (they're not all bad, but a lot of them are), from new card faces to pulling a common from every booster to Mythic Goddamn Rare is made, I feel, on faulty principle. Yes, Magic is a business. But maybe Wizards should stop treating it like a retail business and start treating it like a service business.

You see, these changes are all focused around one goal. They're made in order to sell more packs. From a retail-business standpoint, this is the correct focus. But if they were to define their product as a service, the focus becomes making the customer happy. Here's a hint, Wizards: your customers are not happy with this recent batch of changes.

I'm not sure who conducted the market research that's quoted several times in the press release, but I've yet to see a single voice crying out in favor of Mythic Rares.

Ditching the precons is a pretty good move, though. So they've got that going for them.