The New Reserved List

Summary

In this video, the narrator critiques Magic: The Gathering’s market evolution, comparing the original reserved list with the newer *Universes Beyond* sets. The reserved list, introduced in 1996, was intended to preserve card values but created artificial scarcity, driving prices up. Fast forward to 2025, and *Universes Beyond* sets—collaborations with external intellectual properties—introduce similar issues with non-reprintable cards, but on a much larger scale. This results in a wider range of affected cards and exacerbates Magic's already escalating prices, making the game increasingly expensive and inaccessible. The video discusses the negative impacts and potential future consequences for the hobby.

Takeaways

• 😀 Magic: The Gathering saw rapid growth in 1996, with a strong primary economy but challenges in the secondary market due to reprints.
• 😀 The introduction of reprints through sets like Chronicles and Fourth Edition caused major price drops for rare cards, creating a backlash among collectors.
• 😀 In response to this, Wizards of the Coast created the Reserved List in 1996 to protect the value of select cards by preventing their reprints.
• 😀 The Reserved List was initially seen as a positive move, but over time, it became one of Magic's most criticized decisions due to its artificial scarcity that inflated prices.
• 😀 Cards on the Reserved List could not be reprinted in the same format, driving up their prices due to limited supply and high demand.
• 😀 The concept of the Reserved List has led to prohibitively high prices for older Magic cards, making the hobby less accessible.
• 😀 Magic’s latest issue is the introduction of 'Universes Beyond,' a crossover business model involving other intellectual properties (IPs), which complicates reprints and creates scarcity in its own way.
• 😀 Universes Beyond cards are often licensed from external companies, making their reprints dependent on contracts that limit Wizards of the Coast's control.
• 😀 The limited availability of reprints for Universes Beyond cards has resulted in inflated prices for cards that have mechanical uniqueness but are difficult to reprint.
• 😀 Unlike the Reserved List, Universes Beyond cards can't be circumvented by non-tournament legal reprints (e.g., gold-bordered cards), making their scarcity even more pronounced.
• 😀 Some of the issues with Universes Beyond are exacerbated by slow reprints and delays in making alternate versions, like 'Universes Within' treatments, which don't keep up with the volume of unique cards from Universes Beyond sets.
• 😀 Overall, Universes Beyond has led to similar inflationary effects as the Reserved List but has a wider scope and fewer loopholes, making Magic even more expensive and harder for new players to enter.

Q & A

What was the initial reason for creating the Reserved List in Magic: The Gathering?

The Reserved List was created in response to the reprinting of cards in sets like Chronicles and Fourth Edition. The reprints caused the prices of older, expensive cards to drop significantly, leading to concerns among collectors. To address this, Wizards of the Coast created the Reserved List to guarantee that certain cards would not be reprinted, thereby preserving their value.

Why did the Reserved List become widely regarded as one of the greatest mistakes in Magic's history?

The Reserved List became controversial because it created artificial scarcity, inflating the prices of certain cards to unsustainable levels. As a result, Magic became a prohibitively expensive hobby, making it difficult for new players to afford competitive decks. Over time, this scarcity-driven pricing model drew criticism for harming the accessibility of the game.

How did the Reserved List impact the secondary market for Magic cards?

The Reserved List created a scenario where the supply of certain cards was fixed, and as demand increased, prices soared. Cards that were once affordable became luxury items, and some cards appreciated in value significantly, sometimes for reasons unrelated to their competitive viability.

What is Universes Beyond, and how does it relate to the Reserved List?

Universes Beyond is a Magic: The Gathering business model where cards are printed based on intellectual properties outside of Magic. This includes collaborations with other franchises like Warhammer 40k. The issue with Universes Beyond is that it introduces new cards with unique names and mechanics, but these cards cannot be reprinted freely, creating a situation similar to the Reserved List, as their reprintability is restricted by the intellectual property rights of the collaborating company.

What problem does the Warhammer 40k crossover set highlight in terms of reprintability?

The Warhammer 40k crossover set reveals that certain cards cannot be reprinted due to licensing agreements with Games Workshop. If the license expires or negotiations fall through, it may prevent future print runs of those cards, thus creating scarcity and driving up prices, similar to how the Reserved List operates.

Why are cards from Universes Beyond potentially worse for the secondary market than the Reserved List?

Cards from Universes Beyond may be worse than the Reserved List because the issue is not limited to a few rare or mythic rare cards, but can affect entire sets with a wide variety of cards. Since these cards are tied to external intellectual property agreements, their reprintability is much more rigid, and they cannot be bypassed through the loopholes that exist with the Reserved List.

How does the name and artwork of Universes Beyond cards affect their reprintability?

The names and artwork of Universes Beyond cards are directly tied to the intellectual properties of other companies. Because these elements are copyrighted, they prevent Wizards of the Coast from reprinting the cards in new sets unless they renegotiate the intellectual property agreement. This creates a situation where, once a card is printed, it may not be reprinted again, creating scarcity and inflating prices.

What are the loopholes that allowed Wizards to bypass the Reserved List in the past?

Wizards could bypass the Reserved List by printing cards in non-tournament legal forms, such as gold-border versions or oversized cards. These versions were technically not covered by the Reserved List but could still be used by casual players. Another loophole was the ability to remove certain cards from the Reserved List entirely, such as with Demonic Tutor, which was reprinted after being on the Reserved List.

How has Wizards of the Coast attempted to address the issue of crossover cards like those in Universes Beyond?

Wizards of the Coast has attempted to address the issue by creating 'Universes Within' cards. These cards are mechanically similar to their Universes Beyond counterparts but feature names and artwork that are more consistent with the Magic universe. This allows for future reprints, though the process has been slow and inconsistent.

What is the main concern about the slow release of Universes Within cards for crossover sets?

The main concern is that the slow pace at which Universes Within cards are being released means that players are forced to wait for extended periods before they can see reprints of Universes Beyond cards in a more Magic-appropriate format. With the vast number of mechanically unique cards in crossover sets, the delay could create a backlog of unprinted cards, further driving up prices and exacerbating the scarcity issue.