Are you a Quiet Speculation member?
If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.
If you are a reader of Mark Rosewater's Blogatog or a listener of his podcast, Drive to Work, then you hear a lot about the Un-sets. Over the last three weeks, DtW has focused on going through every card in Unhinged, and Blogatog has silver-bordered questions almost every day. Rosewater is convinced it's just a matter of time until the third Un-set.
I'm here to ask QS readers if they have any interest in such a thing. While Blogatog might lead us to believe that silver-bordered sets have a wide audience, I have a simple piece of (admittedly anecdotal) evidence to suggest the contrary:
I Have Never Seen a Silver-Bordered Card in Play
I've been playing since 1995 or so, and despite being an active Magic player in middle school, when Unglued came out, I have never bought a single pack of silver-bordered cards. I've seen them in trade binders before, but I've never seen them in play (the only exception being a Booster Tutor in a friend's cube).
As a thought exercise, Un-sets can be intriguing to the established Magic player. It's fun to look through the spoiler and see what kind of cultural references and Magic-specific jokes Rosewater and his team can come up with. But when it comes to actually owning the cards, there are only ten across all of Unglued and Unhinged that most established players want:
Other than the gorgeous full-art basics in these sets, most established Magic players I know don't care about Un-sets. You can't use silver-bordered cards in tournaments. You can't use them in most casual games, for that matter! I have never seen or been part of a playgroup that ever used these cards.
So are these sets just for kitchen-table players? If a third Un-set was printed, I would personally look through the spoiler, trade for all the full-art lands I could, and move on with my life. Is there anyone out there who would legitimately want to buy a product like this? Or do most readers agree that it doesn't serve much purpose other than a few laughs? Sound off in the comments—I'm really interested what the community thinks of these products.
Agree, I can’t think of anything less appealing than playing Un-cards. At least when playing the crazy format that was Conspiracy I had opportunity to pull Legacy and EDH cards. Any silver bordered cards I bought would never be used again, hence I would never buy them.
No. Weren’t that fun back when they came out and I had all the time in the world to play magic. Now that my time is at much more of a premium, there’s no shot I’d bother with these.
Richard Garfiled PHD is a SWEET commander.
They get rid of the three sets each block basic, so they don’t have the obligation to bring the third UN set to print.
It’s fun to see it as a parady, so I would have no problems with it.
I use a couple in EDH decks, several more in various cubes.
I think that when, because I do see it coming, they do the third set they need to make people want them. I have played several Silverbordered cards in my playgroup for casual stuff and it always incites laughter when you kill someone with something like Rod Of Spanking, or manage 15 cheatyfaces on the same turn. If they are looking to move product I think 2 lands per pack is necessary.
On the other hand, with 2 set blocks coming up why couldn’t they do a comedy based block. The planesswalkers end up in this upside down really weird plane and desperately try to stop it from infecting the rest of the multiverse. Make real cards with a twist.
These release events are so much fun! That’s when they get played. Release events and sealed events.
Personally, I’ve found the un-sets to be some of the most fun limited ever. Should they do another one, I would take the opportunity to get enough product to build a reasonable draft cube from the set, since it was absolutely great the first two times. As far as long-term financial value, competitive players lock onto the lands, and then there were usually a couple other cards that made for good pickups, with most of it being chaff.
As a long-term kitchen table player, IMO silver-bordered cards are like the gag items you see at Spencers in the mall- everyone wants to see them and giggle, but nobody actually wants to pay money for them.
Booster Tutor is a SWEET Cube card.
I occasionally see people Rock Lobster Scissors Lizard Paper Tiger for who goes first.
I definitely STILL hear stories about Cheatyface from years ago.
I’m mostly in it for the lands, but I would definitely support a third unset.
We draft unglued, unhinged, or conspiracy once a month at my LGS.
I would absolutely pay for another Un set.
1) It is super fun to draft with other experienced players.
2) While its true that 99% of the cards are useless afterwards, the lands you get would probably pay for your packs, and then some.