Blog Entry 2: An Op-Ed on the R.L.

July 25,2018

In light of Article 2, "Proxy Wars", some of you may wonder where I personally stand on the usage of proxies, either in games or even in tournaments.

Personally, if it were up to me, I'd allow proxies to be used in all tournaments as well.

Now you may be wondering, "Why would you do that?! Why would you deep-six what WOTC is trying to do here?! Don't you know they're a business?! Don't you know that they have to make a living like we do?"

Yes, I'm aware of that. However, I come from a different time period than some of you who are reading this blog.

Does everyone deserve to live on the fruits of their labor? Sure. But not at the cost of another person's expense, much less the misery it might inflict, where possible.

At this point in Magic's History, the Reserved List has turned into the damn N.Y.S.E., where people are treating this game like they're commodities/futures/options. Next thing you know, people will start taking out options contracts on cards that have been released, in the same way Series 3 Brokers take out Options Contracts for certain commodities, namely Crude Oil.

That's not the purpose of this game. That's not how Richard Garfield, Ph. D. intended this game to play out. He intended these cards to be treated like collectible stamps that could be used in the course of a game.

Rather than just hear it from me, I've decided to include a video clip from the documentary, I Came To Game, which Mr. Garfield expounds on this notion of a card's collectible worth versus an acceptable price-point.

Richard Garfield's Stance on Pricy Cards.

Frankly, the price of these memes are too damn high.

I would personally like to see the Reserved List abolished, however, I also know this is probably a pipe-dream. There are some middle ground solutions, however, that although will piss off some people, are nonetheless, feasible given the context of the situation.

They are as follows:

1. Eliminate Legacy and Vintage as sanctioned formats, which should, in turn, cause the price-points of specific Reserved List cards to tank due to their lack of need.

2. Eliminate the Reserved List, and take the financial hit that comes with the absurd amounts of litigation that's sure to follow as a result of Detrimental Reliance damages (with the underpinning hope that Hasbro doesn't dump them onto the open market in the meantime).

3. Create Functional Reprints of Reserved List cards so that those cards can still be used in some form or fashion.

4. Allow for official licensed proxies, typically in the form of CE's, IE's, and World Championship decks, to be allowed for sanctioned play in place of the actual card, unilaterally across the board, across all formats.

In the past, and even currently as we speak, the third option has been the predominant go-to, based on their activity. We see this across the board with cards ranging from Candelabra of Tawnos as Magus of the Candelabra, to Storm The Vault (Vault of Catlacan) as Tolarian Academy.

However, a question about their viability in terms of reducing the price-points of said cards has not fully subsided the secondary market, as of present.

Let's use an example:

At current, we see Underground Sea at an obscene price-point ($799.99 average, and $587.09 market, as per TCG Player).

But it doesn't stop there.

Tolarian Academy is at $67.49 average, and at $67.88 for market.

Candelabra of Tawnos is at $1,046.24 average, and at $399.99 for market.

Between Candelabra of Tawnos and Underground Sea, you could buy a cheap car or roundtrip airfare to a CONUS (Continental U.S.) vacation destination for that. It's insane.

So what about the other options? Let's look at them.

Elimination of Vintage and Legacy Formats. This will definitely piss off a number of people, especially lifelong die-hards of the game. (It could very well alienate them!)

Is that a bad thing for WOTC, however, given the fact that WOTC is already on record saying that Standard is their flagship format? Probably not.

As it stands, WOTC does little to promote or advance the Legacy and Vintage community. Their elimination of these specific formats from sanctioned play would allow Modern to become the Legacy that Wizards always wanted; an eternal format with a market that they can reasonably control, and a metagame that they can reshape for years to come.

Elimination of the Reserved List. This will most likely never happen, due to Detrimental Reliance Damages garnered from Promissory Estoppel lawsuits, notwithstanding lawsuits stemming from the Deceptive Trade Practices Act of 1973 (Texas).

And let's not get into International Law, which has its own variant prohibiting Deceptive Trade Practices.

Allowance of Official Licensed Proxies in Sanctioned Events. As much as I'd like to personally see this, it's highly unlikely, because everyone in their mother-in-laws will just use proxies at events, and LGS's, along with WOTC, will eventually go broke in the process.

Therefore, I believe the equitable choice going forward, that would still be best for business, would be the elimination of Legacy and Vintage as sanctioned D.C.I. formats.

To prove my point about the absurdity of the R.L., I decided to conduct an experiment, which I will get to in just a bit. First, on a personal note, I am a small time Magic the Gathering speculator and investor. In fact, nowadays, I am a collector and investor first, and a pilot second, in part because of the idiocy of the Reserved List, and the bind that Wizards of the Coast put themselves into with the establishment of the R.L.

Now, to my example.

As a personal example, just recently within the last few weeks (around the 4th of July), I picked up a number of copies of Skirge Familiar, an Urza's Saga card which is on the Reserved List, when Card Kingdom was selling them at $1.99 per copy; at that time, the card was $1.80 average, and $1.70 for market.

As of July 25th, the day of this blog entry, they're at $2.98 average, and $3.03 for market.

Now, while the price point may have not seen a dramatic price increase, the market price on the card itself nonetheless spiked 178.24%, and the average price spiked 165.55%. And that's within a 3 week time period!

In no uncertain terms, due to artificial inflation stemming from a buyout from a major L.G.S., and a lack of available product on the secondary market, this creates an absurd situation for market inflation. On a grander scale, we've been seeing this from some Bitcoin Investors, which have been buying up R.L. cards.

Does that mean that things should be this way? Hell No. Not in my opinion.

Cardboard Crack can't feed your family, put your kids to bed, read them a story, and so forth. What we're seeing here is Capitalism in action; a scarcity and vacuum in the market creating price-points for some cards that are becoming unobtainable and inaccessible.

This is a hard decision no matter how you look at it, but financially, WOTC doesn't really make money on these formats. It would be in WOTC's best interests, and really all of our interests, to eliminate these formats altogether.

As a final addendum, in my opinion, it would also be wise if the EDH/Commander Rules Committee (I.e., Sheldon, et. al.) officially allowed any/all officially licensed MTG proxies at all EDH tournaments, regardless of the size of the tournament, for the following two reasons:

A. Not every store has this policy (of allowing officially licensed proxies), and this lack of a standard creates a barrier that some players cannot financially overcome. Removing this barrier would be in keeping with the Spirit of the Format by leveling the playing field for everyone.

B. Sheldon and the R.C. are, more than likely, aware that LGS's across the country use his R.C.'s banlist as the gold standard for tournament play. Officially allowing them for tournaments via an R.C. ruling, and encouraging this behavior, would allow for uniformity across all LGS's, nationwide and worldwide.

Like I said earlier, the price of these memes are too damn high. This garbage needs to stop. Now.

I shouldn't have to be the "Elon Musk of Skirge Familiar's" just to get my point across.

--- C.O.

TRYHARD ACADEMY