I think it is time to let a few runes go extinct. You know, those runes that are so bad absolutely nobody has ever run it. The runes you destroyed all of in the rune forge cause its that bad. Make these runes "out of print" Stop selling them in packs and boxes, list them as out of print, and please stop trying to over buff them so everyone wants to run it. (Looking at you soe). Just let them die. New players won't waste time getting them in packs and realizing its a waste of a rune that could have been any of the hundreds of excellent U/UC that new players will want to get in a pack because they see people using all the time. Start slow, I'm not saying to make every shoebox rune OOP right now, but make a list and tell us ahead of time. People can start campaigns like "Save the Battle Matron, She Has Sheep!" Or start a serious defense of a rune that maybe you see as useful but is on the list to be OOP. All the runes are still craftable for shards in the forge. They just won't be in packs. This way the runes being purchased inside boxes, especially for new players, are runes they can put in a BG and win with.
I agree with removing junk runes from the packs but I think we dont need to remove them from the marketplace. The problem with getting "junk" runes is that the Expansion scope of the packs and boxes are too big. In the Core Set you have what? Pre-separation crap and a very few good ones? And note that the warbanners are there. So in the future where Poxbox will run out of warbanners, the only way to get them is through buying these core packs or through trade which wont be that simple anymore. Then you have Extended Sets or the powercreeped era pack that has more good stuff than core set but this does not assure you a lot of competitive runes. I think it is better to make more divisions among packs and maybe put those junk runes in a super cheap Old Pox Pack. Perhaps return the old way of buying runes (boxes and packs by expansion). And on a side note: it narrows down the players' struggle to get what they want. If I want to build a stitched I dont have to buy an extended pack and pray to Il'tara that I get some stitchers. It's so much easier to just buy a Maljaran Box. Sure you can forge and trade for the stitchers that you want but it's a lot of work for just one BG that you want. If we are trying to improve NUX, I dont think this is something most new players would bother to do. TL;DR More divisions among packs would lessen our chances of getting junk runes.
As an avid shoebox rune player, I disagree with this idea. People need to be able to run shoebox runes. Furthermore, consider what making them go OOP would do to their value. Harbs, for example, are no longer obtainable and are some of the most expensive runes in the game. If Harbs were released as commons instead of Limiteds, this would still be the case, as you would STILL not be able to acquire them now except through trading. If Broken Bones ever went OOP, I'd probably be the richest person in the game. It would take about 10 years, but I'd get there.
No jazz the runes don't become any less available at all. If a player wants a forglar jellyfish all they have to do is forge one. It just wouldn't come in boxes or packs anymore.
In that case, what would they put in those packs to replace all the runes that you removed? If every shoebox filler rune was removed from packs/boxes, then the chances of obtaining an exo/LEG would skyrocket. Packs need to come with some kind of padding to make revealing high value runes less likely. For example, say there are 100 runes in a box, 50 of which are common, 40 are uncommon, 9 are rare, and 1 is a guaranteed exo. Take away the commons and uncommons, and what you get? A box of 10 runes, with 9 of those having a 10% chance to become an exo. Even if DOG took it one step further and selectively weeded out which runes were truly "shoebox" (an extremely arduous process btw), this would still make a giant hole in one's acquisition of new runes.
https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr5 I like this I know those bad runes would still be available in the forge so it's not like they wouldn't exist but like it was brought up, what do you put in packs instead?
The question of what to put in packs instead isn't really an issue. The # of runes that would go OOP would just stay less than the # of runes being introduced in new expansions. This way the total # of runes available in packs and boxes doesn't change and actually continues to increase, it's just that the contents of packs and boxes would slowly become more meta viable over time. For example I am only suggesting at first maybe making 25 runes OOP. Then an expansion drops and adds like 40 new C/UC. Repeat each cycle.
I get what you're going for but it's a practical nightmare. Who chooses what is deemed "not worthy" of being in packs? What is the criteria? I don't think going over what should get the axe everything a new expansion drops is going to wind up a simple process. If this is such an issue, the elegant thing to do would be bump down the oldest expansion from Extended to Core every time a new one hits the pool but then again, crap stuff will still be in packs.
We have been kicking around different ideas. The why Magic the Gathering goes about cycling cards is one of many options. It would make the game a lot more approachable to new players because 2000 Runes is a lot. Alternatively, we could continue to make runes freely available but to participate in Tournaments there would be restrictions. There are a bunch of possibilities worth considering down the road.
Ty for the reply Senshu. Let me give an example why I suggested hand picking runes to go OOP as opposed to just say doing entire release sets in one pass. Skeletons, from the release set include grekin and decayed mercenary which are both meta viable in a skele BG, but boneguard infantry can be take OOP and nobody would miss it.
Every tcg must have junk cards/runes in pack because existence of this trash runes make another more valuable.
