Foiled Again and Overwhelmed

Incite Insight card art

The release of Double Masters 2022 features a new kind of foil for select cards: the textured foil (here are all 5 of those). This joins etched foils (which debuted with 86 cards in the previous set, Battle for Baldur's Gate, and is featured on 160 cards in Double Masters 2022) and 'regular' or traditional foils, which have been around (in booster packs) since 1999. When will it end? But foils aren't the only problem.

Between the explosion in number of releases per year and the new variations (both in foil types and card frames) within a given release, I have to ask . . . what is the goal? 

- We used to have 3-4 major releases per year. We had seven in 2021, and already have four in 2022- on pace for seven again this year. 

- Within a given release, it used to be simple to collect the cards: buy booster packs (there was only one kind) and maybe get a foil now and then. Almost all cards were 'normal' in frame and non-foil. Now, there are three types of boosters (draft, set, collector's)- sometimes more- and several types of frames, and (now) three types of foils. For some cards in a given set, you may be able to get the following versions:

- 'normal' (foil or non-foil)

- extended art (foil or non-foil) 

- borderless (foil or non-foil)

- showcase (foil or non-foil)

- an etched foil (featuring different frame)

- a textured foil (featuring different frame)

Not all of these are available in all sets- but the majority can be. Looking at these recent releases and counting foils, you could potentially have seven versions of a given card in one set. 

This explosion of releases and versions is accompanied, sadly, by a decrease in quality. I've had several problems in recent years- cards dirty or damaged in the package, cards of slightly different sizes or finishes, and the like.

I have to ask: is Wizards trying to glut the market? Testing the boundaries? Seeing how much people will buy or endure? On the one hand, I find this annoying. On the other, that is capitalism. So my advice (to myself and you) is simple: if it's too much for you (and it should be), don't buy. That is the clearest signal you can send to any business that is going too far. Send a message, either by not buying any of it or buying low numbers of those single cards you seek. As this point, there are 20,000+ unique Magic cards on the market. We have more than enough to build fun decks and have satisfying interactions for the rest of our lives. We don't need more. We want more- and that is okay, in moderation. But it isn't a need, so let's send a message.