This, exactly this.
From a collectors standpoint the Reserve List makes sense.
BUT THIS IS A GAME!
Being willfully limiting in the ability to print cards that are needed to be competitive in the formats that they are legal in is creating a barrier to play the game.
Also using the example of “key date” coins is exactly refuting the entire premise of the Reserve List. A coin with a “key date” means that it was minted in that year, you can’t mint a 1995 coin in 2020. IF they were to reprint cards, the original “key date” cards would still be sought out by collectors.

I personally started playing Legacy and even though the decks are more expensive than, say standard, I have to admit that I feel much better about buying Legacy/Reserved list cards than cards that are in standard right now. I like the idea that I can sell the cards again, if need be, for the same price (or more) in a few years. If I were playing standard for a few years and always trying to stay on top, I would likely loose a bunch of money if I wanted to get out. Even just now, I lost much more money on my playsets of Teferi Time Raveler, Oko, Wrenn and Six etc. than on the Volcanic Islands that I bought…

I wonder if a solution could be to allow proxies of, specifically, reserved list cards in official tournaments – and to make all the reserved list cards available online (that already happened in MTGO as far as I know – Maybe Arena could follow if need be). That way, people can still play the game, and collectors who want the original cards can still collect the cards.

“The younger, newer players that have only been playing for a few years and do not own any cards from the early era. Hence why they want to abolish the RL so they can own copies of really good cards”

This is a very disingenuous assumption imo. I have a beta lotus, I have more than two dozen duals including a number of FBB ones (all the loan words), I have my playset of OG Mox Diamonds, and I’ve been playing on and off since somewhere around 2000.

And I voted yes.

Because first and foremost, I want to actually play the game. I can’t play the game if other people aren’t able to own decks. Secondly, it’s not an investment unless you intend to sell, and chances are, unless you’re a game store, you aren’t. And third the idea that all the original versions of RL cards would crash to pennies if new versions were printed is just plain wrong. He brings up coin collecting and mentions that specific years are more expensive because they’re rare. But you know what else they are? Currency – if you need that denomination to participate in commerce, there are other options available, yet the rarity and value of that specific variant holds.

At the very least they need to remove the dual lands – nobody cares if they don’t print cards like Pyramids again, but without duals if this current spike continues Legacy as a paper format will just die.

Because then people could actually play it.

I don’t entirely disagree with Sig here, there are valid points regarding the psychology of collecting and market saturation, but he’s only talking about collecting and completely ignoring the game itself as if Magic cards are baseball cards.

Yes, from a collecting only standpoint it’s thrilling to finally get your “white whale”, as it were. But for a player? Someone who isn’t just slabbing cards and keeping them on the shelf or in a vault? It’s a burden and roadblock to the game. If you finally construct your deck and have no one to play with because no one else can afford to or is willing to allocate the expense there, the “enjoyment” quickly drops to zero. Going home early because the event couldn’t fire because nobody else in your community plays Legacy is not “enjoyable”.

There are some straight up flawed arguments in here as well. A 1909S-VDB Lincoln cent is a key date and expensive because it’s rare, true. But as a “game piece”, it’s not needed to participate in the “game” of commerce. You can use a 2015 shield cent instead. At the till, both have the same value and purpose, but somehow that doesn’t diminish the collector’s value of the 1909S. The same would hold if they printed, say, dual lands with new art and frames. The original is still unique and special, and also valuable and harder to obtain. But the game would be playable.

I get it. But what if you are the older Magic player who has invested time and money into those RL cards? WotC would be completely killing your investment if they turn course on this now. I agree Sig. Keep up the good work.

PS. I picked up a Serras Sanctum a few months back for 85$ ( Slight wear on one corner but still)

How does making Legacy “affordable” make it more enjoyable?

As the person responsible for creating the reserve list so many years ago, it’s reassuring to see that at least some wise people like Sig understand why it is and has been so good for Magic. Give the people what they want, even if they don’t know that they want it.

ARTHUR: Go and tell your master that we have been charged by God with a sacred quest. If he will give us food and shelter for the night he can join us in our quest for the Holy Grail.

GUARD: Well, I’ll ask him, but I don’t think he’ll be very keen. Uh, he’s already got one, you see?

ARTHUR: What?

GALAHAD: He says they’ve already got one!

ARTHUR: Are you sure he’s got one?

GUARD: Oh, yes, it’s very nice!

The scene’s hilarious for a lot of reasons—John Cleese’s over-the-top French accent not the least of them—but the core absurdity is the idea that there’s more than ONE Holy Grail. Like, they just got mass-manufactured and sold at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It’s a ridiculous concept. There’s only ONE Holy Grail. That’s kind of the point. The phrase “Holy Grail” itself has even become synonymous with Unobtainium.

The Reserved List is Magic’s Holy Grail. It’s special, it has value and cachet, and you’re absolutely right that it’s key to Magic’s longevity and collectibility. Dumping the RL would be like mass-producing Holy Grails.

New subscriber here. Thanks for the great article.

Aspiration and visceral Desirability is still intangibly vital to the appeal of MTG.