Magic : A Timeline

In the last year or so, I have gotten cards in packs that I then sold for ten to forty bucks.  When I started playing, things were more like, "Wow!  I got a ______!  That's worth like, five bucks!"  In the end, price is all about card power and utility.  This got me to thinking about power and dollar value through the game's history.

The first six Magic sets had the Power Nine and a few dozen other cards that are worth a pretty penny.  Some cards were clearly overpowered and were cut from the core set with the release of Revised.  All development has a learning curve, and I don't think the game designers knew how powerful some cards would be.

From Revised onward, cards that were overpowered (Dream Halls), abusive in combos (Tolarian Academy), or just being put in every damn deck (Necropotence), were restricted or banned.  For the most part, if you wanted a powerful card, it would:  
1.  Cost a lot of mana (Darksteel Colossus) and/or 
2.  Have significant drawbacks (Polar Kraken) and/or
3.  Be a legendary card (Akroma)

These efforts kept prices down and made building a deck involve some thought.  Judgment featured a handful of cards that read, "If ______, you win."  However, it was hard to fulfill the if part.  And honestly, if you have twenty creatures or fifty life, you're almost certainly going to win the game anyway.  The point is, powerful cards remained balanced for a long time.

Then, Lorwyn introduced planeswalkers.  The first batch, you kept them around a few turns, and you then they did something cool.  One of them mirrors the card Living Death, another one does the same thing as Denying Wind.  I don't like planeswalkers and I never will; this was the start  of the slippery slope.  Newer planeswalkers like Jace the Mind Sculptor can remove someone's library from the game.  Others are also, basically, "I win now" cards.  Oh, and no drawbacks.  ANGER.

Not long after, we see the Eldrazi.  Does your opponent have an Eldrazi out?  Ok, they win.  You're fucked.  RAGE.


In addition to printing retarded cards, Wizards of the Coast has gotten lazy about banning and restricting cards.  They just aren't doing it.  AND they are un-banning/ un-restricting some older cards (like Grim Monolith). 

The game is being dumbed down, clearly and intentionally, to sell more packs.  Good for business.  Bad for the wallet.