MtG Cabal Cast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 166 - What if We Ran Hasbro pt1 Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Taking a cue from, "The Bronx Pinstripes Show" we are going to role play what each of us would do if we were in charge of the organization. It could be anything from personnel to marketing to supply chain and beyond, but we run the show. Broken out into two parts as to force ourselves to stay focused on the task at hand and not get too far off topic, we will be discussing in turn our ideas on necessary changes and improvements. It was a tall ask sitting silently and letting one another discuss without chiming in but we managed to get there with this brand new segment

Episode 165 - How Leaks and Spoilers Impact Buylists Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

Returning to a known plane, in this case Kamigawa, allows for a lot of interesting financial opportunities that only present themselves on these revisits. Unlike new planes, we know what to expect; the keywords, the mechanics. There's memory attached.

When this happens and the inevitable targeting of cards based on characters, keywords, mechanics, etc. begins the open market begins to churn and writhe. As this is occurring and people look to enter the fray, what is often overlooked is what is going on at the vendor level in terms of sales numbers and buy price.

Can we, based on trend tracking and available historic data, look to vendors for a cue as to what is going on and what's real? Does this kind of movement also impact their operations and do they respond in kind?

We discuss this week what lessons we can learn about the impact of sales based on leaks and spoilers based on vendor buylists and as well as LGS level markers.

Episode 164 - Alternate Formats and Where They Are Now. Pt 2 Dec 27, 2021

Show notes

As with any alternative format, once you get past the inflection point where players adopt it, ensuring it's not a flash in the pan or fly by night cash grab there is financial opportunity to be had.

This week we discuss the alternate format/s Middle School and Premodern, what separates them, which we believe in, and what they are currently driving in terms of finance and demand. Unlike last weeks discussion about cEDH and Oathbreaker, we talk about formats like Old School and what data provided by the players did to help trend player demand and allow us to make financial gain.

We've collated a handful of helpful links to get you started in both your journey to learn about each format:

https://www.eternalcentral.com/middleschoolrules/
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/kicking-it-like-a-middle-schooler
https://premodernmagic.com/
https://mtgdecks.net/Premodern
https://www.reddit.com/r/premodernMTG/

Episode 163 - Alternate Formats and Where They Are Now. Pt 1 Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

As with any alternative format, once you get past the inflection point where players adopt it, ensuring it's not a flash in the pan or fly by night cash grab there is financial opportunity to be had.

This week we discuss the alternate formats cEDH and Oathbreaker and the impact these have on both the player base and finances. We talk about what we like about each format, player perception, reception and what we're looking for in terms of potential and growth.

We've collated a handful of helpful links to get you started in both your journey to learn about each format:

https://oathbreakermtg.org/
https://oathbreaker.edhrec.com/
https://twitter.com/weirdcards
https://twitter.com/oathbreakermtg
https://www.reddit.com/r/oathbreaker_MtG/
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/
https://cedh-decklist-database.com/

Episode 162 - Holidays at the LGS Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

The "holiday season" can present a number of opportunities at the LGS level regardless of the size of the store and the length of time they've been established. We decided that we would leverage our collective knowledge and discuss what actually goes into making the "holiday season" possible.

Via sourced questions, we break down everything from "when do you first start discussing strategy" to "when do you stop ordering from distro" to give you a glimpse into what it's like to experience the holidays from the LGS point of view.

Episode 161 - 2021 Holiday Strategies Dec 07, 2021

Show notes

As with every year, we look to the holidays as a time where we can take a unique approach to financing our Magic habit and like each preceding year, it's time to review those aforementioned strategies.

We discuss what we'll be looking at this year and why well before the full swing of the season kicks in with the hopes that others also review their plans and better inform their shopping.

Episode 160 - Innistrad Double Feature Nov 30, 2021

Show notes

Though consistent in their language, WotC cast the idea that Innistrad Double Feature would feature a list of cards chosen from both sets leading both players, vendors and LGSs alike to believe that this would be curated.

That couldn't have been further from the truth.

As we ran up to Innistrad: Crimson Vow's pre-release weekend it was announced that Double Feature would actually be a combined set of all the cards from the previous two Innistrad sets, seemingly leaving everyone flummoxed as what to do. Spend money on a retread of the last two standard sets or allocate funds to the new Standard set, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

We discuss reactions to the news of the lack of curation and both our expectations of and potential handling of this product from the aforementioned perspectives.

Product Overview: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/innistrad-double-feature-product-overview-2021-11-15

Episode 159 - Manufactured Misprints and Serialization in Magic Nov 23, 2021

Show notes

As vendors and the general public began cracking their copies of the Phyrexian Praetor Secret Layer, StarCityGames found the first serialized Magic card placed in a consumer product. Number 77 in a series of 100, the "reverse list" Viscera See made huge waves.

Over the Crimson Vow pre-release weekend people were eager to see not only what the first opened copy would sell for, eventually fetching $5k via a BIN on a Facebook sale, but if this Viscera Seer was either one card in a subset of cards or one of one hundred Viscera Seers; the latter being what was determined. People began the process of data mining the amount of Secret Layers sold in the drop that could also contain Reverse List cards and thus the race for information continued.

This week we discuss what both purposeful misprings means to the game as well as serialization and a continued trend towards the Sports cards model that WotC has been taking and what we can expect based on the information and knowledge we have from these existing models.

https://twitter.com/StarCityBen/status/1458851557278203906

https://twitter.com/StarCityBen/status/1459566116431351811

Episode 158 - Automation Within the CCG Industry Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

TCG Player recently purchased the leading company in the robotic card sorting space to add to their intake processes in an effort to smooth and speed up their intake process. While robotic card sorters aren't new news, the purchase of an entire company to fold into an existing CCG organization is; as this is the first occurrence.

We discuss immediate implications for the TCG Player SYP offering as well as a glimpse into what sorters like this can do at both the local LGS level and large vendor level, the demonstrations we've seen and our personal experiences with them.

We also breakdown the life cycle of CCG intake and discuss possible areas for additional automation and where we expect the industry to go next.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tcgplayer-acquires-roca-robotics-301416101.html

Episode 157 - The SCG Invitational and the Hasbro Earnings Call Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

The SCG Invitational showed us a number of things from a player and speculator perspective; where metagames were moving and what to buy into. But it also displayed, for the first time in almost two years what vending large events were going to be like and how hungry people were to both buy and sell.

This gives us a good idea of how MtG Las Vegas will unfold and what we can expect at paper events for the immediate future.

There was also the Hasbro Earning call this week and we make a few call outs based on that and a breakdown by Ben Bleiwiss.

https://twitter.com/StarCityBen/status/1453733721165627392

https://hasbro.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-strong-revenue-operating-profit-and-earnings

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