Why Did WotC Change How Buy-a-Box Promos Work?
General forum
Posted on Dec. 22, 2018, 2:11 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Starting with Domianria, WotC has decided that buy-a-box promos shall now be unique cards that are not a normal part of the set, which I dislike, because doing so makes those cards more difficult to obtain and, thus, more expensive. All other promo cards are still normal cards in the sets, so this decision seems to be very illogical.
What does everyone else say about this? Why did WotC change that aspect of buy-a-box promos?
landofMordor says... #3
Also, with the sole exception of Nexus of Fate, all the promos so far have been hot garbage in most Constructed formats, meaning the demand is limited to the Commander folks or extreme casuals out there.
December 22, 2018 9:51 p.m.
The short version is money. They're hoping for more box .sales.
December 23, 2018 12:01 a.m.
Now box toppers being the new buy a box promo would have been sweet to get. Also due to how mythics are normally printed you'd often get maybe 2-3 copies for every case of boxes, where as most boxes bought from a lgs will have one making the buy a box promo the most printed mythic.
Now back when they printed special art foil versions of cards in the set as promos it was probably most fondly remembered when they were heavily in demand rares and less when the promo was complete junk. If they're keeping the dominaria setup I would prefer if the promo was a mythic that in draft is terrible, but still a pretty good card, just imagine if M19's buy a box was Scapeshift and Nexus was in the set. Hell imagine if Mox Amber was dom's buy a box, in both of those cases they are iffy picks in a draft where as the actual buy a box's could be pretty sweet or even bombs. Sure people will complain about how such a powerful card is a promo, but I definitely would buy into the hype if a proven modern staple or a card with the word mox in it were the promos (for guilds of rav imagine if Thousand-Year Storm was the promo, which is really hard to build around compared to a big dumb wurm).
December 23, 2018 7:36 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
redbird97, would please explain that in greater detail?
December 23, 2018 9:23 a.m.
Sure. Rightly or wrongly there is a.market being created by Wizards for exclusive cards.The hope is the cards.become super valuable and will drive their sales. I don't think any of the single cards have done what they hoped for.
December 23, 2018 12:45 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
redbird97, so, essentially, WotC wants more money, as if they did not already have enough.
December 23, 2018 9:57 p.m.
why should it bother anyone? More incentive to buy the actual box now. Getting the same exact card with a shitty art on it and the only difference between the two is a crappy watermark or time stamp on it or something? LAAAAMMMEE!! Now, a one of a kind exclusive card is great! The only thing that would make it better is if they started making the buy a box promo actually...really good!
December 28, 2018 7:40 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
vasarto77, I already said why it bothers me: the cards are now more difficult to obtain, and, thus, more expensive, and all other promo cards still have regular versions in the set, so it is very weird for the buy-a-box promo to be the only card to not be a normal part of the set itself.
Rzepkanut says... #2
I think it's a fine idea on the part of wotc. There have always been new cards that are hard to get even when they all come from boosters. This kind of promo (power level and card availability wise) doesn't seem any harder to acquire than most mythic rares that come in normal packs. Maybe without internet access the argument that there is an issue with availability could be made, but there is ample supply of all the buy a box promos produced so far online for very reasonable prices.
December 22, 2018 9:23 p.m.