So, with the recent commander unbannings, now seems like a great time to talk about how I feel about all of it, including the bracket system. I like the bracket system, its aim is to have 'pub games', i.e., groups of 4 strangers to be able to discuss what sort of decks they are bringing to the table and what they are hoping to play, and just being something consistent with clearly defined guidelines really helps with that. It also has resulted in friends of mine trying to build a 1, 2, 3, and 4, for example. One of my friends tried tribal zombies as a 1, but if you've ever built a half-decent version of that deck, you know how hard it is to make it a 1 instead of a 2. You basically have to go out of your way to play bad zombies.
The old 1-10 system wasn't cleanly defined, so it ended up being a mess to try and arrange a game with. I know people who defined a 1 as a precon, and people who defined 5 as a precon, when these guys discussed decks together it would never come to a satisfactory conclusion.
The unbannings are a different topic. I didn't actually expect any unbans this time, so I'm a little surprised, but I feel that Mana Crypt/Jewelled Lotus/Dockside, etc... should not be unbanned for a long time, if ever. Unbanning those cards leaves the people who sent the commander committee death threats, making them feel like their actions were justifiable and got Commander rules change. It is so much more important in my mind to not let those who send death threats 'win' than any card coming off the ban list. Death Threats are never OK, never justifiable, and, to me, it's so much more important to make that message heard loud and clear than anything else in that whole drama.
Also, those cards are pretty powerful, and while I miss them to some extent, it's probably better for the format as a whole that they are gone. As a store, I'm staying well away from Mana Crypt, Dockside, Jewelled Lotus, etc... as well as cards like Tolarian Academy. They are always spiking in price as people believe they will be unbanned, but I'm not one of those people.
On a different topic, we've been going through a friend's unsorted commons and uncommons looking for cards so he can have store credit to buy duals (when we find them). Three 6-hour+ searching sessions, 1 with 1 person, 1 with 2, and 1 with 3, and we've finally gone through everything (most of it is commons and uncommons). I went through the 6,000-odd cards from our most recent trip, looking for the high-value ones to add to the store and put those in first (I missed some), they currently cover the entirety of the latest restocks section. All 32 pages. The rest of them will come in over the next few weeks, it takes us 50-60 hours combined to grade, price, sort, and put away all of those cards, which sounds a lot but it comes down to about 35 seconds per card which is less than 10 seconds per card per action, which is not too bad I feel.
Oh! And lastly, the next big Dunedin event is the weekend of the 18th of July, we are trying to figure out a Premodern event for the Friday evening. The prizes are not set in stone, but I'm thinking HP Derranged Hermit for first (unless someone has a better condition one they want to trade in), same condition gold-boarded Survival of the Fittest for second, a $5-6 premodern card for the rest of top 8, and door entry gets an old-boarded basic land. Again, nothing set in stone, but I'd like to know if this is interesting enough to get in Premodern Players from outside Dunedin to join in. And then, as usual, Modern on the Saturday and Legacy on the Sunday.
- Rose Willis
